Don Herbert

{{short description|American educational television host (1917–2007)}} {{Redirect|Mr. Wizard|his television shows|Watch Mr. Wizard|the albums|Mr. Wizard (Vincent Herring album)|and|Mr. Wizard (R. L. Burnside album)}} {{use mdy dates|date=February 2024}} {{Infobox person | name = Don Herbert | image = Don Herbert 1971.JPG | caption = Herbert in 1971 | spouse = Maraleita Dutton (1939–1972); Norma Kasell (1972–2007; his death)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nndb.com/people/726/000031633/ |title=Don Herbert |website=www.nndb.com |access-date=2024-02-11}}</ref> | birth_name = Donald Herbert Kemske | birth_date = {{Birth date|1917|7|10}} | birth_place = Waconia, Minnesota, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2007|6|12|1917|7|10}} | death_place = Bell Canyon, California, U.S. | occupation = TV host | alma_mater = La Crosse State Teachers College (BS) | known_for = ''Mr. Wizard'' television programs }} '''Donald Jeffry Herbert''' (born '''Donald Herbert Kemske'''; July 10, 1917 – June 12, 2007), better known as '''Mr. Wizard''', was an American television host. He was the creator and host of ''Watch Mr. Wizard'' (1951–1965, 1971–1972) and ''Mr. Wizard's World'' (1983–1990), which were educational television programs for children devoted to science and technology. He also produced many short video programs about science and authored several popular books about science for children.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gilkey |first=George R. |title=A History of the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse, 1909-1979 |year=1981 |page=229 |publisher=The University of Wisconsin–La Crosse Foundation |url=http://murphylibrary.uwlax.edu/digital/uwl/Gilkey/text.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100818192808/http://murphylibrary.uwlax.edu/digital/uwl/Gilkey/text.htm |archive-date=2010-08-18 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Rindfleisch |first=Terry |url=http://lacrossetribune.com/news/a-life-remembered-mr-wizard-let-kids-experience-science/article_c8606325-2392-5033-9d0c-2e65c84aa333.html |title=A life remembered: 'Mr. Wizard' let kids experience science |work=La Crosse Tribune |date=June 14, 2007 |access-date=2024-02-11}}</ref><ref name="nyt-obit" /> It was said that no fictional hero was able to rival the popularity and longevity of "the friendly, neighborly scientist".<ref name=LaFollette2013>{{cite book|last1=LaFollette|first1=Marcel Chotkowski|title=Science on American television : a history|date=2013|publisher=University of Chicago Press|page=177|location=Chicago, Ill.|isbn=978-0-226-92199-0}}</ref>{{rp|173}} In Herbert's obituary, Bill Nye wrote, "Herbert's techniques and performances helped create the United States' first generation of homegrown rocket scientists just in time to respond to Sputnik. He sent us to the moon. He changed the world."<ref name=NyeObit /> Herbert is credited with turning "a generation of youth" in the 1950s and early 1960s on to "the promise and perils of science".<ref name=Halpern>{{cite journal|last1=Halpern|first1=Paul|title=On the Air|journal=Distillations|publisher=Chemical Heritage Foundation | date=2015|volume=1|issue=2|page=44|url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/magazine/on-the-air|access-date=23 March 2018}}</ref>

==Early life== Born '''Donald Herbert Kemske''' in Waconia, Minnesota, Herbert was a general science and English major at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse (then called La Crosse State Teachers College) who was interested in drama, graduating in 1940. His career as an actor was interrupted by World War II when he enlisted in the United States Army as a private. Herbert later joined the United States Army Air Forces, took pilot training, and became a B-24 bomber pilot who flew 56 combat missions from Italy with the 767th Bomb Squadron, 461st Bomb Group of the Fifteenth Air Force. When Herbert was discharged in 1945 he was a captain and had earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters.

==''Watch Mr. Wizard''== thumb|right|upright|As Mr. Wizard in 1961

After the war Herbert worked at a radio station in Chicago where he acted in children's programs such as the documentary health series ''It's Your Life'' (1949). It was during this time that Herbert formulated the idea of Mr. Wizard and a general science experiments show that used the new medium of television. Herbert's idea was accepted by Chicago NBC station WNBQ and the series ''Watch Mr. Wizard'' premiered on March 3, 1951. The weekly half-hour live television show, co-produced by Jules Power,<ref name=PowerObit>{{cite news |last=Hevesi |first=Dennis |title=Jules Power, 87, a producer of 'Mr. Wizard' on TV |work=The New York Times |date=15 October 2009 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/15/arts/television/15power.html |access-date=2024-02-11}}</ref> featured Herbert as Mr. Wizard and either a boy or a girl with whom Herbert performed interesting science experiments.<ref name=McLellan>{{cite news |last=McLellan |first=Dennis |url=http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-herbert13jun13,0,4804035,full.story |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130127163100/http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-herbert13jun13,0,4804035,full.story |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 27, 2013 |title=Don Herbert, 89; TV's Mr. Wizard Taught Science |work=Los Angeles Times |date=June 13, 2007 |access-date=2024-02-11}}</ref> The experiments, many of which seemed impossible at first glance, were usually simple enough to be re-created by viewers. In the ''Chicago Tribune'' in 1951, Larry Wolters wrote that Herbert "believes that to educate youngsters in the marvels of science you must first entertain them. And he feels that he can win them over more readily with ordinary household props than with fancy instruments."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2026-03-08 |title=Mr. Wizard's science show held children spellbound in 1950s |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/03/08/mr-wizard-don-herbert-vintage-tribune/ |access-date=2026-03-09 |website=Chicago Tribune |language=en-US}}</ref>

The show was very successful with 547 live episodes created before it was canceled in 1965. The program won a Peabody Award in 1953.<ref name="nyt-obit">{{cite news |last=Goldstein |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Goldstein (writer born 1942) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/13/arts/13herbert.html |title=Don Herbert, 'Mr. Wizard' to Science Buffs, Dies at 89 |work=The New York Times |date=June 13, 2007}}</ref> Marcel LaFollette notes that, "At its peak, ''Watch Mr. Wizard'' drew about eight hundred thousand viewers per episode, but it had an even wider impact. By 1956 over five thousand "Mr. Wizard Science Clubs" had been established, with total membership over a hundred thousand. Teachers incorporated program themes into their classes, and "Mr. Wizard" science kits, books, and other product tie-ins filled the holiday gift lists of countless children."<ref name=LaFollette /> The show was briefly revived for one season in 1971-72 as ''Mr. Wizard'', produced in Canada by CJOH-TV in Ottawa; this series was seen on NBC as well as CBC Television in Canada.

Cory Buxton and Eugene Provenzo place ''Mr. Wizard'' in a 19th-century tradition of "hands-on kitchen science" associated with Michael Faraday's popular science lectures and Arthur Good's collection of experiments for children, ''La Science Amusante'' (1893).<ref name=Buxton /> In turn, LaFollette has written on the legacy of Herbert and other early innovators of science television, "Production approaches that are now standard practice on ''NOVA'' and the Discovery Channel derive, in fact, from experimentation by television pioneers like Lynn Poole and Don Herbert and such programs as ''Adventure'', ''Zoo Parade'', ''Science in Action'', and the Bell Telephone System's science specials. These early efforts were also influenced by television's love of the dramatic, refined during its first decade and continuing to shape news and public affairs programming, as well as fiction and fantasy, today."<ref name=LaFollette02>{{cite journal |title=A Survey of Science Content in U.S. Television Broadcasting, 1940s through 1950s: The Exploratory Years |first=Marcel C. |last=LaFollette |journal=Science Communication |date=September 2002 |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=34–71 |doi=10.1177/107554700202400103|s2cid=144331760 }}</ref>

==Subsequent career== In the mid-1950s, Herbert also appeared on the ''General Electric Theater'' as the "General Electric Progress Reporter" and would introduce spokesman Ronald Reagan and his family to the viewing audience. In some episodes, he would appear alongside Reagan and demonstrate to the audience how General Electric was helping people to "Live better electrically."

After ''Watch Mr. Wizard'' was canceled in 1965, Herbert produced eight films in a series titled ''Experiment: The Story of a Scientific Search''; these aired on public television in 1966. In the same year, Herbert produced the ''Science 20'' series, which were 20-minute films of experiments that were designed for classroom use; a student would record and analyze data based on the film. In 1977, he began producing a series of ''How About'' episodes about scientific topics. These were 90-second films that could be used in news programs; by 1986, he produced 536 films.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mr. Wizard's Biographical Timeline |year=2004 |publisher=Mr. Wizard Studios |url=http://mrwizardstudios.com/bioandtimeline.htm |access-date=2012-06-08}}</ref>

In 1969, Herbert opened a Mr. Wizard Science Center in Wellesley, Massachusetts;<ref>{{cite web |title=John J. Sullivan, Jr., 80 |url=http://www.wickedlocal.com/walpole/news/obituaries/x911400031/John-J-Sullivan-Jr-80#axzz1xH253xrb |work=Wicked Local Walpole |access-date=2012-06-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110911192003/http://www.wickedlocal.com/walpole/news/obituaries/x911400031/John-J-Sullivan-Jr-80#axzz1xH253xrb |archive-date=2011-09-11 }}</ref> the center no longer exists.<!--this is hardly notable; no 3rd party references found.-->

In 1982, Herbert was a guest on the first episode of ''Late Night with David Letterman''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theverge.com/2015/5/20/8632603/david-letterman-first-late-night|title=The Verge|date=20 May 2015}}</ref>

==''Mr. Wizard's World''== In 1983, Herbert developed ''Mr. Wizard's World'', a faster-paced version of his show that aired three times per week on the cable channel Nickelodeon. The show ran until 1990 and reruns were shown until 2000.

In 1993, children's science show ''Beakman's World'' paid homage to Herbert by naming its two penguin puppet characters "Don" and "Herb" after him.

In 1994, Herbert developed another new series of 15-minute spots called ''Teacher to Teacher with Mr. Wizard''. The spots highlighted individual elementary science teachers and their projects. The series was sponsored by the National Science Foundation and was produced at Nickelodeon Studios in Orlando, Florida, and shown on Nickelodeon.

==Death== Herbert died on June 12, 2007, of multiple myeloma at his home in Bell Canyon, California.<ref name="nyt-obit"/> In Herbert's obituary, Bill Nye wrote, "If any of you reading now have been surprised and happy to learn a few things about science watching ''Bill Nye the Science Guy'', keep in mind, it all started with Don Herbert."<ref name=NyeObit>{{cite news |title=Teaching science with a big 'poof!' |last=Nye |first=Bill |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-jun-15-et-wizard15-story.html |date=June 15, 2007 |access-date=2024-02-11}}</ref> Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage, principals of the television program ''MythBusters'', have been described as being "reverent" of Herbert's work as Mr. Wizard.<ref>{{cite news |title=Show finds, shatters the mything links |last=Bentley |first=Rick |work=The Columbus Dispatch |date=April 23, 2008 |url=http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/life_and_entertainment/2008/04/23/2_TV_MYTHBUSTERS.ART_ART_04-23-08_D4_NEA0I92.html}}</ref> Five months after Herbert died, ''MythBusters'' aired a two-hour episode entitled "Special Super-sized Myths" "Dedicated to Mr. Wizard".<ref>{{cite episode |title=Special Super-sized Myths |series=MythBusters |season=5 |number=21 |date=November 14, 2007}}</ref>

==In popular culture== {{Further|Watch Mr. Wizard#In popular culture}}

==Awards== * (1953) ''Watch Mr. Wizard'' won a Peabody Award.<ref>{{cite web|title=George Foster Peabody Award Winners |url=http://www.peabody.uga.edu/winners/PeabodyWinnersBook.pdf |publisher=University of Georgia |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726163315/http://www.peabody.uga.edu/winners/PeabodyWinnersBook.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-26 }}</ref> * Three Thomas Alva Edison National Mass Media Awards.<ref name=McLellan/> *(1991) Herbert received the annual Robert A. Millikan Medal from the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) for his "notable and creative contributions to the teaching of physics;"<ref>{{cite web |title=Robert A. Millikan Medal | url=http://www.aapt.org/Programs/awards/millikan.cfm |access-date=2012-06-06 |publisher=American Association of Physics Teachers}}</ref> he presented an address "Behind the Scenes of ''Mr. Wizard''". * (1994) Herbert won the annual James T. Grady-James H. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry from the American Chemical Society.<ref>{{cite web |title=James T. Grady-James H. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry for the Public |url=http://portal.acs.org/portal/PublicWebSite/funding/awards/national/bytopic/CTP_004537 |access-date=2012-06-06 |publisher=American Chemical Society |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120715185359/http://portal.acs.org/portal/PublicWebSite/funding/awards/national/bytopic/CTP_004537 |archive-date=2012-07-15 }}</ref> * (2007) Resolution 485 of the US House of Representatives honored Herbert shortly after his death.<ref>{{cite journal |journal=Congressional Record |volume=158 |issue=12 |date=June 18–26, 2007 |isbn=9780160871436 |title=H. Res. 485 |quote=''Resolved.'' That the House of Representatives (1) expresses its appreciation for the profound public service and educational contributions of Don Jeffry Herbert, (2) recognizes the profound public impact of higher educational institutions that train teachers, (3) encourages students to honor the heritage of Don Herbert by exploring our world through science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields; and, (4) extends its condolences to the family of Don Herbert and thanks them for their strong familial support of him. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Ju1FH5oagAC&pg=PR17|last1=Congress |first1=U. S. }}</ref>

==See also== * Julius Sumner Miller

==References== <references> <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=9781412924979 |quote=Prominent Victorian scientists such as Michael Faraday, John Ayrton, and Arthur Good also did much to lay the foundations of modern science education. For example, in ''The Chemical History of the Candle'' (1860/2000), his classic series of six Christmas lectures at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, Faraday introduced English children to the fundamentals of chemistry. Arthur Good's three volume collection of hands-on experiments for children, ''La Science Amusante'' (1893) represented the origins of hands-on "kitchen science". ... This approach to television was later popularized on television. Beginning in the 1950s, Don Herbert brought hands-on science to American children through ''Mr. Wizard''. In his series, Herbert drew on nineteenth century "kitchen science" to introduce viewers to basic scientific principles. }}</ref> <ref name=LaFollette>{{cite book |last=LaFollette |first=Marcel Chotkowski |title=Science on the Air: Popularizers and Personalities on Radio and Early Television |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2008 |pages=227–228 |isbn=9780226467597 |oclc=183392557 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XZSy5Qhvqt0C&pg=PA227}}</ref> </references>

==Further reading== * {{cite news |title=Don Herbert, swell wizard |last=Kelley |first=Patrick |work=The Emporia Gazette |date=June 14, 2007 |quote=Herbert's approach to science was a welcome relief from the worshipful awe of scientists that followed the creation of the atomic bomb at the end of World War II. The public saw scientists as white-coated super-intellects who kept their cool gazes focused above the heads of the rest of humanity on a remote horizon that no one else could see. The atomic era seemed to widen the gap between scientists and the rest of humanity. Then Herbert showed up, friendly, accessible and smart, and showed children how the principles of science worked for everyone, not just for people with Ph.D.s and lab coats. |url=http://www.emporiagazette.com/news/2007/jun/14/don_herbert_swell_wizard/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130122033827/http://www.emporiagazette.com/news/2007/jun/14/don_herbert_swell_wizard/ |archive-date=January 22, 2013 }} * In 1999, Stephen Gordon, founder of the furniture company Restoration Hardware, teamed up with Renee Whitney, general manager of a toy company called Wild Goose, to recreate the chemistry kits marketed by "Mr. Wizard" in the past. However, they found that most of the items in the original kits are now illegal to sell, and the resulting product they ended up marketing contained just five chemicals ("including laundry starch, which was tagged with an ominous warning: HANDLE CAREFULLY. NOT EXPECTED TO BE A HEALTH HAZARD"). ** {{cite magazine |last=Silberman |first=Steve |author-link=Steve Silberman |url=https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.06/chemistry_pr.html |title=Don't Try This at Home |magazine=Wired |volume=14 |issue=6 |date=June 2006}}

==External links== {{wikinews|Television's 'Mr. Wizard' Don Herbert dies at 89}} * [http://www.mrwizardstudios.com/ Mr. Wizard Studios], official Mr. Wizard website * [https://www.youtube.com/@MrWizardStudios Youtube channel] * {{IMDb name|id=0378532|name=Don Herbert}} * ''[http://www.wnyc.org/shows/its-your-life/ It's Your Life]'' at [http://www.wnyc.org/archives The WNYC Archives] * {{The Interviews name|don-herbert}} * {{cite web |last=Sternberg |first=Joel |url=http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/W/htmlW/watchmrwiz/watchmrwiz.htm |title=''Watch Mr. Wizard'' |publisher=Museum of Broadcast Communications|accessdate=2012-06-06}} * {{cite web |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/a-13-2006-07-27-voa68/323026.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007003148/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/W/htmlW/watchmrwiz/watchmrwiz.htm |archive-date=2008-10-07 |title=TV's Mr. Wizard Touched the Daily Lives of Generations of Kids with the Magic of Science |publisher=Voice of America |url-status=live |date=October 31, 2009}} * {{cite web |url=https://media.libsyn.com/media/tsoya/tsoya043005.mp3 |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20070615185520/http://media.libsyn.com/media/tsoya/tsoya043005.mp3 |archive-date=June 15, 2007 |title=MP3 interview |url-status=live |access-date=January 28, 2017 }} With Herbert on the public radio program ''The Sound of Young America''.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Herbert, Don}} Category:1917 births Category:2007 deaths Category:People from Waconia, Minnesota Category:Military personnel from Minnesota Category:American science journalists Category:Nickelodeon people Category:Deaths from bone cancer in California Category:Deaths from multiple myeloma in California Category:United States Army Air Forces bomber pilots of World War II Category:United States Army Air Forces officers Category:University of Wisconsin–La Crosse alumni Category:Peabody Award winners Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States) Category:Recipients of the Air Medal Category:20th-century American journalists Category:21st-century American people Category:20th-century American male journalists