Popular Science The What's New Magazine

YEAR: 1981
ITEM: Periodical
COMPANY: Popular Science
COUNTRY: USA
IN OUR COLLECTION: Yes

Popular Science is an American quarterly magazine that is intended for the general audience with articles on science and technology subjects. Founded in May 1872 by Edward L. Youmans to offer knowledge to the educated layman, Popular Science What's New Magazine was originally called The Popular Science Monthly. Youmans had previously worked as an editor for the weekly Appleton's Journal and persuaded them to publish his new journal. Early issues were mostly reprints of English periodicals. The journal became an outlet for writings and ideas of Charles Darwin, Thomas Henry Huxley, Louis Pasteur, Henry Ward Beecher, Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, Thomas Edison, John Dewey and James McKeen Cattell. William Jay Youmans, Edward's brother, helped found Popular Science Monthly in 1872 and was an editor as well. He became editor-in-chief on Edward's death in 1887. The publisher, D. Appleton & Company, was forced for economic reasons to sell the journal in 1900 .

James McKeen Cattell became the editor in 1900 and the publisher in 1901. Cattell had a background in academics and continued publishing articles for educated readers. By 1915 the readership was declining and publishing a science journal was a financial challenge. In a 1915 editorial, Cattell related these difficulties to his readers and announced that the Popular Science Monthly name had been transferred to a group that wanted the name for a general audience magazine. The existing journal would continue the academic tradition of Science Monthly.

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