Don Herbert 1917-2007

A lot happened today, but for people like me the most important thing was the death of our old science teacher Mr. Wizard. Don Herbert died at age 89 after a long battle with multiple myeloma. You can read all about him in his LA Times' obituary.

For me, and hundreds of thousands like me, Mr. Wizard made science something I could do. He used stuff we could find around the house. No fancy beakers or tubing. Mason jars and straws did the same job. My brothers and I would watch his show and then try to duplicate his experiments. Sometimes an experiment wouldn't work and we would have to go to the library to figure out why. He inspired me to enter the science fair with an experiment intended to prove that a baseball could curve. I used a wind tunnel made out of an old vacuum cleaner, a ball hung on a string and a "smoke making devise," all in an enclosed cardboard box, with a plastic window. I made it all the way to the city finals.

You had to think when you watched Mr. Wizard. He didn't lecture. He taught. We didn't know it at the time, but his teaching style was the classic Socratic method. He would ask his "student" (and me) questions leading to an understanding of how things worked.

I saw one of his original shows a few months ago. It was black and white, but after 50 years it was just as good as ever. If you have an opportunity to watch one of his old shows, take it. There has never been anything like him since. He was one of a kind.

The following is not a clip from his classic show. Instead it is a segment on an early Letterman. Enjoy. If he wasn't your science teacher, I hope your Mr. Wizard was just as good.