Don Herbert, creator of the television program “Watch Mr. Wizard,” will receive an honorary doctor of science degree from U-M-Dearborn at its commencement exercises on April 24.
“Watch Mr. Wizard,” which was broadcast each week from 1955 to 1965 on the NBC network, featured Herbert and a young boy or girl conducting scientific experiments with ordinary household items.
“With his engaging manner and simple props, Don Herbert kindled a life-long love of science in more children than any other person in the nation,” says Richard H. Moyer, professor of science education at Dearborn. “Many of today’s teachers, scientists and science buffs grew up with Mr. Wizard. His significant contributions to science education through books, kits, videos and films, as well as his personal appearances, are well known.”
In 1991, Herbert established the Mr. Wizard Institute to continue and expand the “methods that have proven so successful in making science and technology understood, appreciated and enjoyed.”
Herbert currently is preparing a series of 60 15-minute programs, “Teacher to Teacher with Mr. Wizard,” to be shown on the Nickelodeon cable channel. Moyer and other Dearborn faculty members are working with Herbert to develop print materials to accompany the series.
“We have all benefited from Don Herbert’s enormous contributions in science education,” says Dearborn Chancellor James C. Renick. “His commitment to children and their teachers has been manifest throughout more than 40 years of service in popularizing science, and he has been an inspiration to generations of students and educators.”
