What about Mr. Wizard?
Mr Wizard was important. Science education lacks a Mr Wizard these days, and the popularity of science suffers as a result.
Whoa! I forgot about him. Don Herbert. When I was a kid, he had a 1/2 hour TV show Saturday mornings. He would always be mixing up or making something and a boy or girl (yes, a girl - way ahead of his time) would come strolling in. Watcha doin, Mr. Wizard. Well, Suzie, I've got some Plutonium here and we're going to... He got a lot of kids interested in science. Last I heard, kids could only handle a 5-minute quickie with their rapid fire attentions spans. Is he still on?