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''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and
Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla ( ; ,"Tesla"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.
; 1856 – 7 January 1943 ...
, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it is the oldest continuously published magazine in the United States. ''Scientific American'' is owned by Springer Nature, which in turn is a subsidiary of Holtzbrinck Publishing Group.


History

''Scientific American'' was founded by inventor and publisher Rufus Porter in 1845 as a four-page weekly newspaper. The first issue of the large format newspaper was released August 28, 1845. Throughout its early years, much emphasis was placed on reports of what was going on at the
U.S. Patent Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alexa ...
. It also reported on a broad range of inventions including perpetual motion machines, an 1860 device for buoying vessels by Abraham Lincoln, and the universal joint which now can be found in nearly every automobile manufactured. Current issues include a "this date in history" section, featuring excerpts from articles originally published 50, 100, and 150 years earlier. Topics include humorous incidents, wrong-headed theories, and noteworthy advances in the history of science and technology. It started as a weekly publication in August 1845 before turning into monthly in November 1921. Porter sold the publication to
Alfred Ely Beach Alfred Ely Beach (September 1, 1826 – January 1, 1896) was an American inventor, publisher, and patent lawyer, born in Springfield, Massachusetts. He is most known for his design of New York City's earliest subway predecessor, the Beach Pneu ...
and
Orson Desaix Munn Orson Desaix Munn (June 11, 1824 – February 28, 1907) was the publisher of ''Scientific American''. Biography Orson Desaix Munn was born on June 11, 1824, in Monson, Massachusetts. He received his education at the academy in his native town, ...
a mere ten months after founding it. Until 1948, it remained owned by Munn & Company. Under Munn's grandson, Orson Desaix Munn III, it had evolved into something of a "workbench" publication, similar to the twentieth-century incarnation of '' Popular Science''. In the years after World War II, the magazine fell into decline. In 1948, three partners who were planning on starting a new popular science magazine, to be called ''The Sciences'', purchased the assets of the old ''Scientific American'' instead and put its name on the designs they had created for their new magazine. Thus the partnerspublisher
Gerard Piel Gerard Piel (1 March 1915 in Woodmere, N.Y. – 5 September 2004) was the publisher of the new Scientific American magazine starting in 1948. He wrote for magazines, including ''The Nation'', and published books on science for the general p ...
, editor Dennis Flanagan, and general manager Donald H. Miller, Jr.essentially created a new magazine. Miller retired in 1979, Flanagan and Piel in 1984, when Gerard Piel's son Jonathan became president and editor; circulation had grown fifteen-fold since 1948. In 1986, it was sold to the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group of Germany, which has owned it until the Springer-Nature merger. In the fall of 2008, ''Scientific American'' was put under the control of Holtzbrinck's Nature Publishing Group division. Donald Miller died in December 1998, Gerard Piel in September 2004 and Dennis Flanagan in January 2005.
Mariette DiChristina Mariette DiChristina Is the dean of the College of Communication at Boston University, of which she is an alumna. She was the editor-in-chief of the magazine ''Scientific American'' from December 2009 to September 2019. A science journalist for m ...
became editor-in-chief after John Rennie stepped down in June 2009, and stepped down herself in September 2019. In April 2020,
Laura Helmuth Laura Lee Helmuth is an American science journalist and the editor in chief of '' Scientific American.'' She was formerly the Health and Science editor at '' The Washington Post.'' From 2016 to 2018, she served as the president of the National A ...
assumed the role of
editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...
. The magazine is the oldest continually published magazine in the United States.


International editions

''Scientific American'' published its first foreign edition in 1890, the Spanish-language ''La America Cientifica''. Publication was suspended in 1905, and another 63 years would pass before another foreign-language edition appeared: In 1968, an Italian edition, '' Le Scienze'', was launched, and a Japanese edition, ', followed three years later. A new Spanish edition, ''Investigación y Ciencia'' was launched in Spain in 1976, followed by a
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
edition, ', in France in 1977, and a
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
edition, ', in Germany in 1978. A Russian edition ''V Mire Nauki'' (russian: «В мире науки») was launched in the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
in 1983, and continues in the present-day Russian Federation. ''Kexue'' (科学, "Science" in Chinese), a simplified Chinese edition launched in 1979, was the first Western magazine published in the People's Republic of China. Founded in Chongqing, the simplified Chinese magazine was transferred to
Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...
in 2001. Later in 2005, a newer edition, ''Global Science'' (环球科学), was published instead of ''Kexue'', which shut down due to financial problems. A traditional Chinese edition, known as ', was introduced to
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...
in 2002. The Hungarian edition ''Tudomány'' existed between 1984 and 1992. In 1986, an
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
edition, ', was published. In 2002, a Portuguese edition was launched in Brazil. Today, ''Scientific American'' publishes 18 foreign-language editions around the globe: Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lithuanian (discontinued after 15 issues), Polish,
Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania ** Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditiona ...
, Russian, and Spanish. From 1902 to 1911, ''Scientific American'' supervised the publication of the '' Encyclopedia Americana'', which during some of that period was known as ''The Americana''. Some famous individuals who penned articles in the magazine included Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Jonas Salk,
Marie Curie Marie Salomea Skłodowska–Curie ( , , ; born Maria Salomea Skłodowska, ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the fir ...
, Stephen Hawking, Franklin D. Roosevelt,
Stephen Jay Gould Stephen Jay Gould (; September 10, 1941 – May 20, 2002) was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was one of the most influential and widely read authors of popular science of his generation. Goul ...
, Bill Gates,
Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla ( ; ,"Tesla"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.
; 1856 – 7 January 1943 ...
, and more.


Editors

* Rufus Porter (1792–1884), first editor (1845–1847) *
Orson Desaix Munn Orson Desaix Munn (June 11, 1824 – February 28, 1907) was the publisher of ''Scientific American''. Biography Orson Desaix Munn was born on June 11, 1824, in Monson, Massachusetts. He received his education at the academy in his native town, ...
(1824–1907), second editor (1847–1907) *
Charles Allen Munn Charles Allen Munn (1859–1924), was an American editor and publisher, who oversaw ''Scientific American'' after the editorship of his father, Orson Desaix Munn. His nephew Orson Desaix Munn II succeeded him as editor of the magazine. He was al ...
(1859–1924), third editor (1907–1924) *
Orson Desaix Munn II Orson Desaix Munn II (1883–1958) was an editor and publisher of ''Scientific American'' magazine. He was the son of Henry Norcross Munn (1851-1905) and his wife Annie E. Elder (1855-1917), the nephew of Charles Allen Munn, and the grandson ...
(1883–1958), fourth editor (1924–1947) *
Dennis Flanagan Dennis Flanagan (July 22, 1919 in New York City – January 14, 2005 in New York City) was the founding editor of the modern Scientific American magazine. In 1947, Flanagan, Donald H. Miller, Jr., under the leadership of Gerard Piel, acqui ...
(1919–2005), fifth editor (1947–1984). *
Jonathan Piel Jonathan Piel (born 23 November 1938) is an American science journalist and editor. Work At the Scientific American He became the editor of ''Scientific American'' in June 1984 and left the magazine in August 1994. Following the tradition estab ...
, (1984–1994) * John Rennie, seventh editor-in-chief (1994–2009) *
Mariette DiChristina Mariette DiChristina Is the dean of the College of Communication at Boston University, of which she is an alumna. She was the editor-in-chief of the magazine ''Scientific American'' from December 2009 to September 2019. A science journalist for m ...
, eighth editor-in-chief (2009–2019) *
Laura Helmuth Laura Lee Helmuth is an American science journalist and the editor in chief of '' Scientific American.'' She was formerly the Health and Science editor at '' The Washington Post.'' From 2016 to 2018, she served as the president of the National A ...
, ninth editor-in-chief (April 2020 – present)


Special issues

* '' Communications, Computers, and Networks'' – September 1991


Website

In March 1996, ''Scientific American'' launched its own website that included articles from current and past issues, online-only features, daily news, special reports, and trivia, among other things. The website introduced a paywall in April 2019, with readers able to view a few articles for free each month.


Columns

Notable features have included: * Martin Gardner's Mathematical Games column * Douglas Hofstadter's Metamagical Themas *
The Amateur Scientist "The Amateur Scientist" was a column in the ''Scientific American'', and was the definitive "how-to" resource for citizen-scientists for over 72 years (1928–2001), making it the longest running column in ''Scientific American''s history. The col ...
column *
A. K. Dewdney Alexander Keewatin Dewdney (born August 5, 1941) is a Canadian mathematician, computer scientist, author, filmmaker, and conspiracy theorist. Dewdney is the son of Canadian artist and author Selwyn Dewdney, and brother of poet Christopher Dewdney. ...
's Computer Recreations column * Michael Shermer's Skeptic column * James Burke's Connections


Television

From 1990 to 2005 ''Scientific American'' produced a television program on PBS called '' Scientific American Frontiers'' with hosts Woodie Flowers and Alan Alda.


Books

From 1983 to 1997, ''Scientific American'' has produced an encyclopedia set of volumes from their publishing division, the Scientific American Library. These books were not sold in retail stores, but as a Book of the Month Club selection priced from $24.95 to $32.95. Topics covered dozens of areas of scientific knowledge and included in-depth essays on: The Animal Mind; Atmosphere, Climate, and Change; Beyond the Third Dimension; Cosmic Clouds; Cycles of Life • Civilization and the Biosphere; The Discovery Of Subatomic Particles; Diversity and the Tropical Rain Forest; Earthquakes and Geological Discovery; Exploring Planetary Worlds; Gravity's Fatal Attraction; Fire; Fossils And The History Of Life; From Quarks to the Cosmos; A Guided Tour Of The Living Cell; Human Diversity; Perception; The Solar System; Sun and Earth; The Science of Words (Linguistics); The Science Of Musical Sound; The Second Law (of Thermodynamics); Stars; Supercomputing and the Transformation of Science. Scientific American launched a publishing imprint in 2010 in partnership with Farrar, Straus and Giroux. * A "collection of updated or adapted ''Scientific American'' articles and shorter pieces... ". According to editor Andrea Gawrylewski 'The reader will quickly notice a common theme. ... there really is no debate where the science is concerned'". Contributors include Seth Shostak, Paul Offit, Richard Dawkins and
Harriet Hall Harriet A. Hall (born July 2, 1945) is a U.S. retired family physician, former U.S. Air Force flight surgeon and skeptic who writes about alternative medicine and quackery for '' Skeptic'' and ''Skeptical Inquirer''. She writes under the name ...
.


Scientific and political debate

In April 1950, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission ordered ''Scientific American'' to cease publication of an issue containing an article by Hans Bethe that appeared to reveal classified information about the thermonuclear hydrogen bomb. Subsequent review of the material determined that the AEC had overreacted. The incident was important for the "new" ''Scientific Americans history, as the AEC's decision to burn 3,000 copies of an early press-run of the magazine containing the offending material appeared to be " book burning in a free society" when publisher Gerard Piel leaked the incident to the press. In its January 2002 issue, ''Scientific American'' published a series of criticisms of the Bjørn Lomborg book '' The Skeptical Environmentalist''. Cato Institute fellow
Patrick J. Michaels Patrick J. Michaels (February 15, 1950 – July 15, 2022) was an American agricultural climatologist. Michaels was a senior fellow in environmental studies at the Cato Institute until 2019. Until 2007, he was research professor of environmenta ...
said the attacks came because the book "threatens billions of taxpayer dollars that go into the global change kitty every year". Journalist Ronald Bailey called the criticism "disturbing" and "dishonest", writing, "The subhead of the review section, 'Science defends itself against ''The Skeptical Environmentalist'',' gives the show away: Religious and political views need to defend themselves against criticism, but science is supposed to be a process for determining the facts." The May 2007 issue featured a column by Michael Shermer calling for a United States pullout from the Iraq War. In response, '' Wall Street Journal'' online columnist James Taranto jokingly called ''Scientific American'' "a liberal political magazine". An editorial in the September 2016 issue of ''Scientific American'' attacked U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump for "anti-science" attitudes and rhetoric. This marked the first time that the publication forayed into commenting on U.S. presidential politics. In the October 2020 issue of the magazine, it endorsed Joe Biden for the
2020 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2020 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2020 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *5 January: ** ...
, citing Donald Trump's rejection of scientific evidence, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. In the column reporting the endorsement, the magazine's editors said, "''Scientific American'' has never endorsed a presidential candidate in its 175-year history. This year we are compelled to do so. We do not do this lightly."


Awards

* 2010:
IQ Award The IQ Award is a prize donated by the high- IQ association Mensa to honor people and organisations who have made remarkable contributions to public welfare by an intelligent idea, scientific research about human intelligence or the positive imag ...
for the German edition ''Spektrum der Wissenschaft''


Controversy

The publisher was criticized in 2009 when it notified collegiate libraries that yearly subscription prices for the magazine would increase by nearly 500% for print and 50% for online access to $1,500 yearly. In 2013,
Danielle N. Lee Danielle N. Lee is an American assistant professor of biology at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, best known for her science blogging and outreach efforts focused on increasing minority participation in STEM fields. Her research intere ...
, a female scientist who blogged at ''Scientific American'', was called a "whore" in an email by an editor at the science website ''Biology Online'' after refusing to write professional content without compensation. When Lee, outraged about the email, wrote a rebuttal on her ''Scientific American'' blog, the editor-in-chief of ''Scientific American'', Mariette DiChristina, removed the post, sparking an outrage by supporters of Lee. While DiChristina cited legal reasons for removing the blog, others criticized her for censoring Lee. The editor at ''Biology Online'' was fired after the incident. The controversy widened in the ensuing days. The magazine's blog editor, Bora Zivkovic, was the subject of allegations of sexual harassment by another blogger, Monica Byrne. Although the alleged incident had occurred about a year earlier, editor Mariette DiChristina informed readers that the incident had been investigated and resolved to Byrne's satisfaction. However, the incident involving Lee had prompted Byrne to reveal the identity of Zivkovic, following the latter's support of Lee. Zivkovic responded on Twitter and his own blog, admitting the incident with Byrne had taken place. His blog post apologized to Byrne, and referred to the incident as "singular", stating that his behavior was not "engaged in before or since". Zivkovic resigned from the board of Science Online, the popular science blogging conference that he co-founded with Anton Zuiker. Following Zivkovic's admission, several prominent female bloggers, including other bloggers for the magazine, wrote their own accounts, alleging additional incidents of sexual harassment, although none of these accounts have been independently investigated yet, nor do they meet either the legal or ethical definition of sexual harassment. A day after these new revelations, Zivkovic resigned his position at ''Scientific American'', according to a press release from the magazine.


See also

* 14145 Sciam, asteroid named after ''Scientific American'' * '' American Scientist'' * ''Discover'' (magazine) *
Albert Graham Ingalls Albert Graham Ingalls (January 16, 1888–August 13, 1958) was an American scientific editor and amateur astronomer. Through his columns in '' Scientific American'', including "The Amateur Scientist", and his three-volume series ''Amateur Tele ...
, former editor and author of an amateur astronomy column * ''
New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organisation publish ...
'' * ''
Scientific American Mind ''Scientific American Mind'' was a bimonthly American popular science magazine concentrating on psychology, neuroscience, and related fields. By analyzing and revealing new thinking in the cognitive sciences, the magazine tries to focus on the b ...
''


References


External links

* * * * {{authority control 1845 establishments in the United States Magazines established in 1845 Magazines published in New York City Monthly magazines published in the United States Nature Research academic journals Popular science magazines Science and technology magazines published in the United States