Zuegner, Mary Carol (Author)
This study examines the portrayal of science in Scientific American magazine from 1921 to 1986, focusing on how science was defined, how that definition changed, and how the magazine portrayed the authority of science. The mass media---including a specialized magazine like Scientific American---is one way the often invisible but increasingly important world of science and scientists is made visible. The methods used included a reading of each issue of the magazine during the 65-year period and examination of oral histories and correspondence of four magazine editors and one publisher. Three strands---journalism, science and history---all had an impact on the magazine and its portrayal of science. A model developed by A. J. Van Zuilen outlining the life cycle of magazines from birth to death served to illustrate Scientific American's circuit from the growth stage to decline and death and its rebirth and growth into maturity during the 65 years. Three other trends that can be traced through the period include the growing specialization of science and of journalists who covered science, and increasing public concern and interest about the implications of scientific progress. Over the 65 years, science in Scientific American became more specialized and more sophisticated, particularly after the magazine's rebirth in 1948. The new publisher and editor sought to explain science in context and deliver the explanations to an audience already interested in science, whether scientists, engineers, doctors or scientifically literate laymen. The magazine, which had been written by staff members and others in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, became a magazine written by scientists and edited by journalists after that rebirth in 1948. The use of the scientific method allowed the magazine's editors to address social and political issues as long as those issues could be expressed or examined or investigated in scientific terms. While what was considered science changed and how those stories were covered changed, what remained the same over the 65 years was a belief in science and the scientific method as a way to solve problems even as the consequences of science seemed at times to outweigh the benefits.
...MoreDescription Cited in Diss. Abstr. Int. A 61 (2000): 13. UMI order no. 9959329.
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