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''Scientific American'' is a Popular-science Magazine , published (first weekly and later monthly) since August 28 , 1845 , making it the oldest continuously published magazine in the United States. It brings articles about new and innovative research to the amateur and lay audience. ''Scientific American'' (informally abbreviated to "''SciAm''") had a monthly circulation of roughly 555,000 US and 90,000 international as of December 2005.1 It is a well-respected publication despite not being a Peer-reviewed Scientific Journal , such as '' Nature ''; rather, it is a forum where scientific theories and discoveries are explained to a wider audience. In the past scientists interested in fields outside their own areas of expertise made up the magazine's target audience. Now, however, the publication is aimed at educated general readers who are interested in scientific issues. The magazine '' American Scientist '' covers similar ground but at a level more suitable for the professional science audience, similar to the older style of ''Scientific American''. HISTORY The magazine was founded by Rufus Porter as a single-page newsletter, and throughout its early years ''Scientific American'' put much emphasis on reports of what was going on at the US Patent Office . It reported on a broad range of inventions that includes Perpetual Motion machines, an 1849 device for buoying vessels by Abraham Lincoln , and the Universal Joint which now finds place in nearly every Automobile manufactured. Current issues feature a "this date in history" section, featuring an article originally published 50, 100, and 150 years ago — where often-humorous, un-scientific, or otherwise noteworthy gems of science history are featured. Porter sold the newsletter in 1846 to Alfred Ely Beach and Orson Desaix Munn, and until 1948 it remained owned by Munn & Company. Under the second Orson D. Munn, grandson of the first, it had evolved into something of a "workbench" publication, similar to the 20th century incarnation of '' Popular Science ''. In the years after World War II, the magazine was dying. Three partners who were planning on starting a new popular science magazine, to be called ''The Sciences,'' instead purchased the assets of the old ''Scientific American'' and put its name on the designs they had created for their new magazine. Thus the partners -- publisher Gerard Piel , editor Dennis Flanagan , and general manager Donald H. Miller, Jr. -- created essentially a new magazine, the ''Scientific American'' magazine of the second half of the twentieth century. Miller retired in 1979, Flanagan and Piel in 1984, when Gerard Piel's son Jonathan became president and editor; circulation had grown fifteenfold since 1948. In 1986 it was sold to the Holtzbrinck group of Germany, who have owned it since. Donald Miller died in December, 1998,2 Gerard Piel in September 2004 and Dennis Flanagan in January 2005. John Rennie is the current editor-in-chief. ''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, ), followed three years later. Today, ''Scientific American'' publishes 18 foreign-language editions around the globe. ''Kexue'', a simplified Chinese edition launched in 1979, was the first Western magazine published in the People's Republic of China. From 1902 to 1911, ''Scientific American'' supervised the publication of the '' Encyclopedia Americana '', which during some of that period was known as ''The Americana''. FIRST ISSUE It originally styled itself "The Advocate of Industry and Enterprise" and "Journal of Mechanical and other Improvements". On the front page of the first issue was the engraving of "Improved Rail-Road Cars". The masthead had a commentary as follows:
The commentary under the illustration gives the flavor of its style at the time:
Also in the first issue is commentary on Signor Muzio Muzzi 's proposed device for aerial navigation. EDITORS
SPECIAL ISSUES
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN 50 AWARD The Scientific American 50 award was started in 2002 to recognise contributions to science and technology during the magazine's previous year. The magazine's 50 awards cover many categories including agriculture, communications, defence, environment, and medical diagnostics. The complete list of each year's winners appear in the December issue of the magazine, as well as on the magazine's web site. WEBSITE In March 1996 Scientific American launched its own website at SciAm.com . The site has grown into a resource that includes articles from current and past issues, online-only features, daily news, weird science, special reports, trivia, "Scidoku" and more. At SciAm.com visitors can subscribe to the Scientific American magazine, Scientific American Mind Magazine,and Scientific American Digital which houses downloadable PDF issues of the magazines from 1992 to the present. COLUMNS Notable features have included:
TELEVISION ''Scientific American'' also produces a TV program on the PBS channel called '' Scientific American Frontiers ''. CRITICISM In its January 2002 issue, ''Scientific American'' published a series of criticisms of the '', May 2002 The May 2007 issue featured a column by '', May 18, 2007 In the 1990s the target audience changed, from other scientists in unrelated fields, to educated general readers interested in science issues. This change is lamented in an article ''The Demise of Scientific American'' by Professor Larry Moran ''The Demise of Scientific American'' , Larry Moran, . SEE ALSO
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