RIP Mr. Wizard

[SheRa]

i had no idea that he was battling cancer. he was a great man, and i had just recently used his balloon taping trick to quietly pop balloons that were decorating my desk at work.

from his website (http://www.mrwizardstudios.com/):

It is with deep sadness that we regret to announce the passing of Don Herbert - the one and only "Mr. Wizard". Don lost his battle with cancer today, June 12, 2007, at 9 AM Pacific Daylight Time - slightly more than one month shy of his 90th birthday. He was lovingly surrounded by his family, who are at once, saddened by his passing, and relieved that he is no longer suffering.

We all feel extremely lucky to have had him in our lives and to have known and worked with Don over the years. We have also been tremendously honored to carry on his legacy as an original and truly legendary figure in the worlds of both Television and Science Education. He has been inspirational and influential in so many ways and on so many lives and we are comforted in the fact that his ground breaking work and legacy will continue to inspire many more people for years to come.

Thank you so much to all of you for your support and sympathy.

Sincerely, The Family

[suebear37]

My kids used to LOVE that show... it was on back in the mid 80's on Nickelodeon when there wasn't a lot of children's programming & they had to dig out old time (black & white) shows to fill the time.

[SheRa]

My kids used to LOVE that show... it was on back in the mid 80's on Nickelodeon when there wasn't a lot of children's programming & they had to dig out old time (black & white) shows to fill the time.

exactly! and he made learning FUN!

[Schmee]

Thanks for that website SheRa.
I had never heard of him before the other day but it seems like some of the DVDs would be a good gift for my neice and nephew in a few years.

[MKSquared]

I LOVED Mr. Wizard. I'm thinking back to some of the shows I remember:

the dry ice episode, where they threw a frozen hot dog to the ground and watched it shatter
the touch sensitivity one, where they put two needles on a stick and touched different parts of the body to show different sensitivities
the paper folding one, where Mr. Wizard taught us that you can only fold a piece of paper 8 times at most -- which I know now is incorrect, but I thought it was cool then
one where he made the kids stand on their heads and eat


That's too bad. He taught a lot of kids lots of things about science. (Was Mr. Goodbody a guest on his show?)

[Deechef]

How sad....I always liked his show and my Dad was a guest on his show. I don't remeber what he did but it probably had something to do with Freon.

[SheRa]

MKSquared - i remember that paper one! and the hot dog was too funny...

Deechef - that's awesome about your dad! i wonder if it's on the dvd set? i may just check that out - i wonder if they'll sell it and donate some of the proceeds to a cancer charity (does anyone know what type of cancer it was? i haven't seen it)