Farewell to Mr. Wizard

At Cuppa Java this morning, the TV had a picture of a man named Don Herbert who had just died. I was trying to figure out who he was but didn't make the connection untilI got home and read the paper: Mr Wizard died at age 89 - NBC was showing a picture of him as an older man, but here's the picture I remember:





He was on from 1951-1964 in "Watch Mr Wizard" and I know I watched it a bunch, but don't recall many details. There was usually a couple of kids (at least one girl and one boy), and at some point in every show one would say to the other: "Let's ask Mr. Wizard". This makes me wonder if this influenced my life-long interest in science: I never took any Physics, Chemistry or Biology past high shool but I do subscribe to (and read) Scientific American. The Strib account describes the show as a 'fond Baby Boomer memory' so I am sure I'm not alone. He was born in Waconia, MN where my dad had a sailboat for a number of years.

update - here's a posting with much more detail than I could manage: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marty-kaplan/watch-mr-wizard_b_51964.html