Look, maybe this video seems like a supercut of out-of-context clips put together in a brilliant arrangement. But maybe it’s really hard work being a science icon to a generation of children. Maybe that tablecloth trick is actually difficult to successfully pull off no matter how many times people at parties beg you to do it. And then these shows like Beakman’s World come along with their zany hosts and try to outdo everything that’s been accomplished? This is about the science, man, not the frills. So, yes, maybe sometimes it’s hard even for a legend to keep his cool around these pesky kids who wouldn’t know how to generate static electricity if two damn balloons were tied to their hands. Don Herbert was a great man and diplomat for science who won a Peabody (1953) and the annual James T. Grady-James H. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry (1994); he has no time to trifle with kids who just don’t get it. [via Videogum]