My earliest exposure to Chinese kids came at a time when children’s television was at its finest and Chinese kids on television were rare. It was the mid-80s and as a young curious TV addict, a science program on Nickelodeon transported me to a world in which an old white man was king and a group of Chinese kids with glasses were his subjects. Seriously, it seemed like all the kids on this show were Chinese. Well, I suppose they could have been Japanese or Korean, but I did not know the difference then the way I do now. Mr. Wizard’s World was the third incarnation of a children’s science show featuring Don Herbert, known to the world as Mr. Wizard. The show aired on Nickelodeon from 1983-1990 and aimed to promote science education by filming experiments testing the scientific properties of ordinary everyday events and objects. Mr. Wizard became a household name in 1951 when NBC aired Watch Mr. Wizard, the first American science show aimed at kids and the show that earned Herbert a Peabody Award in 1954. As a kid, I knew of Mr. Wizard’s previous success because my mom would repeatedly bug me while I was watching and tell me “I used to watch this when I was your age.” And I’d be thinking, “who cares Mom, something’s about to explode.” Born in Minnesota in 1917, Mr. Wizard graduated from University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Teacher’s College with a degree in science and English before pursing an acting career. Wizard then served as a U.S. Army Air Corps pilot during World War II. After the war, he began broadcasting a health education series on a Chicago radio station. With the advent of television, Mr. Wizard believed the new medium would allow him to showcase his scientific wizardry for people to see. And the rest was history. Mr. Wizard died Tuesday of bone cancer at his California home. For two generations of children, Mr. Wizard made science into something we could all understand. His family has not confirmed whether Mr. Wizard’s body will be donated to science.
•NYT: Don Herbert Dies at 89
•YouTube: "Mr. Wizard’s World" Intro
•YouTube: Mr. Wizard with a Chinese Kid