Via Boing-Boing, I learn that Don Herbert, a.k.a. “Mr. Wizard,” has died.
He lived to a ripe old age of 89. Perhaps the best tribute to him is this:
“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,” he said. “They all say that Mr. Wizard taught them to think.”
A greater accomplishment in science is hard to imagine.
R.I.P., Mr. Wizard.