Don Herbert

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For other persons named Don Herbert, see Don Herbert (disambiguation).
Don Herbert

Born Donald Herbert Kemske
July 10, 1917
Waconia, Minnesota, USA
Died June 12, 2007 (aged 89)
Bell Canyon, California, USA
Official website

Donald Jeffry Herbert (born Donald Herbert Kemske;[1][2] July 10, 1917 – June 12, 2007), better known as "Mr. Wizard", was the host of two popular television shows about science aimed at children.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Herbert was a general science and English major at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (then it was La Crosse State Normal College) who was interested in drama. 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 combat missions with the Fifteenth Air Force, flying out of a base in Italy. 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.

[edit] Mr. Wizard

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 utilized the new medium of television. Herbert's idea was accepted by the Chicago NBC station, and the series Watch Mr. Wizard premiered on March 3, 1951. The weekly 30-minute show featured Herbert as Mr. Wizard, with a young assistant who watched while Herbert performed interesting science experiments.[3] The experiments, many of which seemed impossible at first glance, were usually simple enough to be re-created by viewers. The show was very successful. 547 live episodes were created before it was canceled in 1965. Herbert won a Peabody Award for his work on the program in 1953.[4]

After his show was canceled, Herbert produced films for junior and senior high schools, wrote several books on science, and in 1969 developed a Mr. Wizard Science Center located outside Boston, Massachusetts. (The center no longer exists.)

The show Watch Mr. Wizard was briefly revived by NBC in the 1971 – 1972 season.

Opening credits of Mr. Wizard's World
Opening credits of Mr. Wizard's World

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

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 shown on Nickelodeon.

Herbert died of multiple myeloma on June 12, 2007, at his home in Bell Canyon, California.[4]

[edit] Awards

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Gilkey George R., A History of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, 1909-1979, The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Foundation, 1981.
  2. ^ Rindfleisch, Terry. A life remembered: 'Mr. Wizard' let kids experience science. La Crosse Tribune. June 14, 2007.
  3. ^ "Don Herbert, 89; TV's Mr. Wizard Taught Science...", Los Angeles Times, June 13, 2007
  4. ^ a b Goldstein, Richard. "Don Herbert, 'Mr. Wizard' to Science Buffs, Dies at 89", The New York Times, June 13, 2007. 

[edit] External links

Persondata
NAME Herbert, Donald Jeffry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mr. Wizard; Donald Herbert Kemske (birth name)
SHORT DESCRIPTION American television host
DATE OF BIRTH July 10, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH Waconia, Minnesota, United States
DATE OF DEATH June 12, 2007
PLACE OF DEATH Bell Canyon, California, United States
Languages