{{Short description|French science journalist "Tom Tit" (1853–1928)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2016}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Arthur Good | image = Tom Tit (Arthur Good).png | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1853|08|16}} or {{birth date|df=yes|1853|08|26}} | birth_place = Montivilliers, Seine-Maritime, France | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1928|03|30|1853|08|26}} | death_place = | field = Engineering | work_institutions = | alma_mater = | doctoral_advisor = | awards = }} {{Redirect|Tom Tit|3=Tomtit (disambiguation)}} '''Arthur Good''' (16<ref name="Geneanet"/> or 26<ref name="BNF">{{cite web|title=Catalogue Général|url=http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb12058496c|website=BnF (nouvelle fenêtre)|accessdate=7 December 2016}}</ref> August 1853 – 30 March 1928) was a French engineer,<ref name="Lachapelle" /> science educator, author and caricaturist who used the pen name '''Tom Tit'''. He wrote a series of weekly articles, ''La Science Amusante'', or ''Amusing Science'', that were collected in book form and have been translated and republished in more than 130 editions in several languages. The illustrations for his do-it-yourself scientific apparatuses have been described as surrealist collages, and were an inspiration for surrealist artists such as Max Ernst and Joseph Cornell.
== Personal life == Arthur Good was born in Montivilliers, Seine-Maritime, France on 16<ref name="Geneanet"/> or 26<ref name="BNF"/> August 1853. He was the son of Protestant pastor Gustave Frédéric Good (1823–1896) and Louise Stéphanie Monod (1827–1909).<ref name="Geneanet">{{cite web|title=Arthur Good|url=http://gw.geneanet.org/bourelly?lang=fr&p=arthur&n=good|website=Geneanet|accessdate=8 November 2016}}</ref>
Good graduated from the École centrale des arts et manufacture in Paris, where he studied engineering.<ref name="Chemineau" />
He married Jeanne Valon (1857–1910) in Paris on 6 April 1881. They had four children.<ref name="Geneanet" />
== La Science Amusante == thumb|''L'assiette sur une aiguille'' (plate on a needle) thumb|''Lustre en bulles de savon'' (soap-bubble chandelier)
Under the pen name Tom Tit, Arthur Good wrote a series of weekly articles, ''La Science Amusante'' '''Amusing Science''<nowiki/>' for the French magazine ''L’Illustration''.<ref name="Edelman" /> Good presented a range of physical experiments, from "simple games meant to amuse the family" to experiments "of a truly scientific character". They introduce a range of physical and scientific principles<ref name="Lachapelle">{{cite book|last1=Lachapelle|first1=Sofie|title=Conjuring Science: A History of Scientific Entertainment and Stage Magic in Modern France|date=2015|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-1-137-49768-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HB7eCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT62|accessdate=8 November 2016}}</ref> including magnetism and surface tension.<ref name="Elder">{{cite book|last1=Elder|first1=R. Bruce|title=Dada, surrealism, and the cinematic effect|date=2013|publisher=Wilfrid Laurier University Press|location=Waterloo, Ont.|isbn=978-1-55458-625-7|pages=494–495|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mhXaAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA494|accessdate=8 November 2016}}</ref> Good's articles include geometrical demonstrations, craft projects, and physics experiments which can be carried out with everyday household materials.<ref name="Edelman" /> In books such as ''La Récréation En Famille'' he emphasized that scientific education could be a common activity and amusement for the entire family. He dedicated ''La Science Amusante'' to one of his children, saying "In dedicating this volume today, I would like it to be a souvenir for you of the happy moments we have spent together trying the experiments and constructing the apparatuses".<ref name="Lachapelle" />
Good created improvised scientific apparatuses like his ''Soap-bubble Chandelier'' using common items such as bottles, eggs, corks, candles, and soap.<ref name="Edelman" /> His constructions have an imaginative charm that has led to them being compared to surrealistic collages.<ref name="Edelman" /> Nonetheless, his drawings were seriously and carefully rendered by scientific engraver Louis Poyet (1846–1913) and his assistants.<ref name="Edelman">{{cite web|last1=Edelman|first1=Eric|title=The Collaged World of Tom Tit|url=http://blog.retrocollage.com/collaged-world-tom-tit/|website=RetroCollage|accessdate=11 December 2012|archive-date=14 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121214002845/http://blog.retrocollage.com/collaged-world-tom-tit/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Poyet">{{cite web|title=Le graveur du dimanche * Louis Poyet|url=http://gonefishing.over-blog.com/article-le-graveur-du-dimanche-louis-poyet-48802161.html|website=Gone Fishing|date=18 April 2010|accessdate=8 November 2016}}</ref>
The original columns from ''La Science Amusante'' were collected and published in a three-volume series in France. Each volume contained 100 amusements. Beginning in 1889,<ref name="Lachapelle" /> they have been reprinted in over 130 editions.<ref name="Elder" /> Collections of amusements were translated and published in English, Italian, and Spanish.<ref name="Edelman" /> In the United States they appeared as ''Magical Experiments, or Science in Play'', and in England as ''Scientific Amusements''. A selection has also been republished as ''100 Amazing Magic Tricks''.<ref name="Elder" /> Good's books are considered to have laid the foundations for modern approaches to science education in their introduction of "kitchen science" and hands-on experiments for children.<ref name="Buxton">{{cite book |last1=Buxton |first1=Cory A. |last2=Provenzo, Jr. |first2=Eugene F. |title=Teaching Science in Elementary and Middle School: A Cognitive and Cultural Approach |publisher=Sage |year=2007 |page=44 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3aqDhzUdLS4C&pg=PA44 |oclc=72353389 |isbn=978-1-4129-2497-9}}</ref>
The science centre Tom Tits Experiment founded in Södertälje outside Stockholm, Sweden, in 1987, is named after the Tom Tit character.
== Other publications == {{library resources box|by=yes|onlinebooksby=yes|viaf=152121104|lcheading=Tit, Tom }}
Good also published instructions for DIY entertainments in ''Pour Amuser Les Petits ou les joujoux qu’on peut faire soi-même'' (To Amuse the Little Ones, or Do-It-Yourself Small Toys), ''La Récréation En Famille'' (Family Recreations), ''Les Bons Jeudis'' (Fun Thursdays – in Good's day in France there were no classes on Thursdays),<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/news/europe/21586572-state-primary-schools-are-abandoning-their-four-day-week-weird-about-wednesday|title=France: Weird about Wednesday|newspaper=The Economist|date=21 September 2013}}</ref> and ''Joujoux en Papier'' (Paper Toys).<ref name="Edelman" /> From 1885 to 1888, he was the editor of a periodical, ''Le Chercheur'', that featured new inventions. He also wrote for ''La Nature''.<ref name="Chemineau">{{cite book|last1=Chemineau|first1=Manuel|title=Fortunes de "La Nature" 1873–1914|date=2012|publisher=Lit|location=Wien|isbn=978-3-643-50426-5|page=123|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EzLsnv5TmkwC&pg=PA123|accessdate=8 November 2016}}</ref>
In addition to his science education publications, Good published a set of ''Caricatures'' of famous Britons in London in 1913.<ref name="Caricatures">{{cite book|last1=Good|first1=Arthur|title=Caricatures|date=1913|publisher=The New Age Press, Limited|location=London|url=https://archive.org/stream/caricaturesbytom00gooduoft#page/n15/mode/2up|accessdate=8 November 2016}}</ref> He received a medal of honor from the National Society for the Development of Good (''Société nationale d'encouragement au bien'').<ref name="Gallica">{{cite web|title=Livre La science amusante (première série) : 100 expériences|url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k2029874/texteBrut|website=Gallica|accessdate=8 November 2016}}</ref>
== Surrealism == During the 1920s and 1930s, surrealist artists such as Max Ernst<ref name="Colombino">{{cite book|last1=Colombino|first1=Laura|title=Ford Madox Ford : vision, visuality and writing|date=2008|publisher=Peter Lang|location=Bern|isbn=978-3-03911-396-5|pages=138–139|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vm1iq3h1a7QC&pg=PA138}}</ref> and Joseph Cornell<ref name="Edwards">{{cite book|last1=Edwards|first1=Jason|last2=Taylor|first2=Stephanie L.|title=Joseph Cornell : opening the box|date=2007|publisher=Lang|location=Oxford|isbn=978-3-03911-058-2|page=169|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=beSQjePY4CAC&pg=PA169|accessdate=8 November 2016}}</ref> were intrigued by the Tom Tit illustrations, and incorporated them into their own works.<ref name="Edelman" />
== Gallery == <gallery mode=packed heights=175px> Tom Tit Science amusante 1890 S1.png | ''La Science Amusante'' Tom Tit Sience amusante Larousse 1890.png | ''La Science Amusante'' La Science Amusante cover.jpg| ''La Science Amusante'' Max Beerbohm caricatures by Arthur Good 1913.jpg | Caricature of Max Beerbohm </gallery>
== References == {{reflist|30em}}
== External links == {{Commons category|Arthur Good (Tom Tit)}} * [http://www.tomtit.se/ Children's museum named for Arthur Good's pseudonym] * [https://cmog.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma991387893504126&context=L&vid=01CORNING_INST:01CORNING_INST&search_scope=MyInstitution&tab=LibraryCatalog&lang=en La science amusante: 100 expériences (1890)] - digitized copy from the Rakow Research Library * [https://cmog.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma991387883504126&context=L&vid=01CORNING_INST:01CORNING_INST&search_scope=MyInstitution&tab=LibraryCatalog&lang=en La science amusante, Deuxième série: 100 nouvelles expériences (1892)] - digitized copy from the Rakow Research Library * [https://cmog.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma991387873504126&context=L&vid=01CORNING_INST:01CORNING_INST&search_scope=MyInstitution&tab=LibraryCatalog&lang=en La science amusante, Troisième série: 100 nouvelles expériences (1893)] - digitized copy from the Rakow Research Library
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Good, Arthur}} Category:1853 births Category:1928 deaths Category:French engineers Category:French caricaturists Category:People from Montivilliers Category:Scientists from Paris