Don Herbert, who explained the wonderful world of science to millions of young baby boomers on television in the 1950s and '60s as 'Mr. Wizard' and did the same for another generation of youngsters on the Nickelodeon cable TV channel in the 1980s, died Tuesday. He was 89.
Herbert died at his home in Bell Canyon after a long battle with multiple myeloma, said Tom Nikosey, Herbert's son-in-law.
A low-key, avuncular presence who wore a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a tie, Herbert launched his weekly half-hour science show for children on NBC in 1951.
Broadcast live from Chicago on Saturdays the first few years and then from New York City, 'Watch Mr. Wizard' ran for 14 years.
Herbert used basic experiments to teach scientific principles to his TV audience via an in-studio guest boy or girl who assisted in the experiments.
'I was a grade school kid in the '50s and watched 'Mr. Wizard' Saturday mornings and was just glued to the television,' said Nikosey, president of Mr. Wizard Studios, which sells Herbert's science books and TV shows on DVD.
