"Mr. Wizard," had a formula to hook kids, dies at 89

LOS ANGELES — 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 a later generation of youngsters on the Nickelodeon cable TV channel in the 1980s, died Tuesday. He was 89.

Mr. Herbert died at his home in Bell Canyon after a long battle with multiple myeloma, said his son-in-law Tom Nikosey.

A low-key, avuncular presence who wore a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a tie, Mr. Herbert launched his weekly half-hour science show for children on NBC in 1951. "Watch Mr. Wizard" — broadcast live from Chicago on Saturdays the first few years and then from New York — ran for 14 years.

Mr. 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 Mr. Herbert's science books and old TV shows on DVD.

"The show just heightened my curiosity about science and the way things worked," said Nikosey. "I learned an awful lot from him, as did millions of other kids."

By 1955, there were about 5,000 Mr. Wizard Science Clubs across the U.S., with more than 100,000 members.

In explaining how he brought a sense of wonder to elementary scientific experiments, Mr. Herbert said in a 2004 interview with The New York Times that he "would perform the trick, as it were, to hook the kids, and then explain the science later."

He said, "A lot of scientists criticized us for using the words 'magic' and 'mystery' in the show's subtitle, but they came around eventually."

"Watch Mr. Wizard" garnered numerous honors, including a Peabody Award and the Thomas Alva Edison Foundation Award for Best Science TV Program for Youth.

Mr. Herbert had a lasting impact.

"Over the years, Don has been personally responsible for more people going into the sciences than any other single person in this country," George Tressel, a National Science Foundation official, said in 1989. "I fully realize the number is virtually endless when I talk to scientists. They all say that Mr. Wizard taught them to think."

After "Watch Mr. Wizard" ended its 14-year-run in 1965, Mr. Herbert showed up frequently on talk shows, including "The Tonight Show" and "Late Night With David Letterman." "Watch Mr. Wizard" was revived on NBC in 1971 for a season, and "Mr. Wizard's World" ran on Nickelodeon from 1983 to 1990.

Born July 10, 1917, in Waconia, Minn. Mr. Herbert grew up in La Crosse, Wis., and graduated from LaCrosse State Teachers College in 1940.

In 1942, he volunteered for the Army Air Forces. As a B-24 bomber pilot, he flew 56 missions over Italy, Germany and Yugoslavia and received the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with three oak-leaf clusters.

He is survived by his wife of 34 years, Norma; his two sons and a daughter from his first marriage, Jay, Jeffrey and Jill Rogers; two stepdaughters; a stepson; and 13 grandchildren.