Tom Tit

Arthur Good (16 or 26 August 1853 – 30 March 1928) was a French engineer, science educator, author and caricaturist who used the pen name Tom Tit. He wrote a series of weekly articles, La Science Amusante, or Amusing Science, that were collected in book form and have been translated and republished in more than 130 editions in several languages. The illustrations for his do-it-yourself scientific apparatuses have been described as surrealist collages, and were an inspiration for surrealist artists such as Max Ernst and Joseph Cornell.

Personal life

Arthur Good was born in Montivilliers, Seine-Maritime, France on 16 or 26 August 1853. He was the son of Protestant pastor Gustave Frédéric Good (1823–1896) and Louise Stéphanie Monod (1827–1909).

Good graduated from the École centrale des arts et manufacture in Paris, where he studied engineering.

He married Jeanne Valon (1857–1910) in Paris on 6 April 1881. They had four children.

La Science Amusante

Under the pen name Tom Tit, Arthur Good wrote a series of weekly articles, La Science Amusante 'Amusing Science' for the French magazine L’Illustration. Good presented a range of physical experiments, from "simple games meant to amuse the family" to experiments "of a truly scientific character". They introduce a range of physical and scientific principles including magnetism and surface tension. Good's articles include geometrical demonstrations, craft projects, and physics experiments which can be carried out with everyday household materials. In books such as La Récréation En Famille he emphasized that scientific education could be a common activity and amusement for the entire family. He dedicated La Science Amusante to one of his children, saying "In dedicating this volume today, I would like it to be a souvenir for you of the happy moments we have spent together trying the experiments and constructing the apparatuses".