The headlines were different when the biweekly broadsheet began, but the engine of innovation behind them was the same as it is today: science. Readers of Scientific American’s first issue, dated August 28, 1845, must have been struck by the front-page story on “Improved Rail-Road Cars” that were “calculated to avoid atmospheric resistance.” They may have marveled at the item about Morse’s telegraph, which speculated: “This wonder of the age, which has for several months past been in operation between Washington and Baltimore, appears likely to come into general use through the length and breadth of the land.” Reflecting the profound changes in science and society in the past century and a half, the top stories today have changed—global warming, stem cells, and technologies for energy independence, to name a few. But science is still at their roots. Indeed, it is clearer than ever that it is not some remote endeavor that occurs in walled-off ivory towers, removed from the concerns of humankind. Far from it. Science, and the technologies that grow out of it, touches the lives of all people. And as advances have arisen, Scientific American has been there to explain and enlighten. We could not do so without the generous amounts of time provided by our scientist sources and contributors. The researchers who author articles for us are at the pinnacles of their fields; more than 120 Nobel laureates are among them. The scientists spend hours explaining their research and findings to our reporters and editors. They help to check the accuracy of informational graphics, charts and tables. And they, along with our expert journalists and editors, suggest ideas for stories that deserve coverage in the pages of the magazine and online at ScientificAmerican.com. That working relationship has always been implicit in everything we do. Continuing in that tradition of close collaboration, we have now expanded our board of advisers. Below, you will see the names of people who have agreed, as friends of the magazine, to assist in our mission of being for you, our readers, the best source for information about science and technology advances and how they will affect our lives. The advisers give us feedback on story proposals and manuscripts from time to time. We may tap their expertise for planning. I personally hope that they will critique and challenge us as well, holding us up to the kind of scrutiny that every endeavor requires to excel. In responding to my invitation, many of the advisers reacted with warm words about Scientific American, telling me how it had inspired them as readers or reminding me of its critical role in informing the public. That is a daunting level of expectation to live up to, but in those same scientists and experts we also have a powerful tool toward that end. Our goal, of course, is to better serve you, our readers. Board of Advisers Leslie C. Aiello President, Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research Roger Bingham Professor, Center for Brain and Cognition, University of California, San Diego G. Steven Burrill CEO, Burrill & Company Arthur Caplan Emanuel and Robert Hart Professor of Bioethics, University of Pennsylvania Sean Carroll Senior Research Associate, Department of Physics, Caltech George M. Church Director, Center for Computational Genetics, Harvard Medical School Rita Colwell Distinguished Professor, University of Maryland College Park and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Drew Endy Professor of Bioengineering, Stanford University Ed Felten Director, Center for Information Technology Policy, Princeton University Michael S. Gazzaniga Director, Sage Center for the Study of Mind, University of California, Santa Barbara David Gross Frederick W. Gluck Professor of Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara (Nobel Prize in Physics, 2004) Lene Vestergaard Hau Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and of Applied Physics, Harvard University Danny Hillis Co-chairman, Applied Minds Daniel M. Kammen Director, Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley Vinod Khosla Founder, Khosla Ventures Christof Koch Lois and Victor Troendle Professor of Cognitive and Behavioral Biology, Caltech Lawrence M. Krauss Director, Origins Initiative, Arizona State University Morten L. Kringelbach Director, Hedonia: TrygFonden Research Group, University of Oxford and University of Aarhus Steven Kyle Professor of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University Robert S. Langer David H. Koch Institute Professor, M.I.T. Lawrence Lessig Professor, Harvard Law School John P. Moore Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Weill Medical College of Cornell University M. Granger Morgan Professor and Head of Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University Miguel Nicolelis Co-director, Center for Neuroengineering, Duke University Martin Nowak Director, Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, Harvard University Robert Palazzo Provost and Professor of Biology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Vilayanur S. Ramachandran Director, Center for Brain and Cognition, University of California, San Diego Lisa Randall Professor of Physics, Harvard University Martin Rees Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics, University of Cambridge John Reganold Regents Professor of Soil Science, Washington State University Jeffrey D. Sachs Director, The Earth Institute, Columbia University Eugenie Scott Executive Director, National Center for Science Education Terry Sejnowski Professor and Laboratory Head of Computational Neurobiology Laboratory, Salk Institute for Biological Studies Michael Snyder Professor of Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine Michael E. Webber Associate Director, Center for International Energy & Environmental Policy, University of Texas at Austin Steven Weinberg Director, Theory Research Group, Department of Physics, University of Texas at Austin (Nobel Prize in Physics, 1979) George M. Whitesides Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University Nathan Wolfe Director, Global Viral Forecasting Initiative R. James Woolsey, Jr. Senior Executive Adviser for Energy and Security, Booz Allen Hamilton Anton Zeilinger Professor of Quantum Optics, Quantum Nanophysics, Quantum Information, University of Vienna Jonathan Zittrain Professor, Harvard Law School Note: This article was originally printed with the title, “From the Sources.”
Reflecting the profound changes in science and society in the past century and a half, the top stories today have changed—global warming, stem cells, and technologies for energy independence, to name a few. But science is still at their roots. Indeed, it is clearer than ever that it is not some remote endeavor that occurs in walled-off ivory towers, removed from the concerns of humankind. Far from it. Science, and the technologies that grow out of it, touches the lives of all people. And as advances have arisen, Scientific American has been there to explain and enlighten.
We could not do so without the generous amounts of time provided by our scientist sources and contributors. The researchers who author articles for us are at the pinnacles of their fields; more than 120 Nobel laureates are among them. The scientists spend hours explaining their research and findings to our reporters and editors. They help to check the accuracy of informational graphics, charts and tables. And they, along with our expert journalists and editors, suggest ideas for stories that deserve coverage in the pages of the magazine and online at ScientificAmerican.com. That working relationship has always been implicit in everything we do.
Continuing in that tradition of close collaboration, we have now expanded our board of advisers. Below, you will see the names of people who have agreed, as friends of the magazine, to assist in our mission of being for you, our readers, the best source for information about science and technology advances and how they will affect our lives. The advisers give us feedback on story proposals and manuscripts from time to time. We may tap their expertise for planning. I personally hope that they will critique and challenge us as well, holding us up to the kind of scrutiny that every endeavor requires to excel.
In responding to my invitation, many of the advisers reacted with warm words about Scientific American, telling me how it had inspired them as readers or reminding me of its critical role in informing the public. That is a daunting level of expectation to live up to, but in those same scientists and experts we also have a powerful tool toward that end. Our goal, of course, is to better serve you, our readers.
Board of Advisers Leslie C. Aiello President, Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research
Roger Bingham Professor, Center for Brain and Cognition, University of California, San Diego
G. Steven Burrill CEO, Burrill & Company
Arthur Caplan Emanuel and Robert Hart Professor of Bioethics, University of Pennsylvania
Sean Carroll Senior Research Associate, Department of Physics, Caltech
George M. Church Director, Center for Computational Genetics, Harvard Medical School
Rita Colwell Distinguished Professor, University of Maryland College Park and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Drew Endy Professor of Bioengineering, Stanford University
Ed Felten Director, Center for Information Technology Policy, Princeton University
Michael S. Gazzaniga Director, Sage Center for the Study of Mind, University of California, Santa Barbara
David Gross Frederick W. Gluck Professor of Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara (Nobel Prize in Physics, 2004)
Lene Vestergaard Hau Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and of Applied Physics, Harvard University
Danny Hillis Co-chairman, Applied Minds
Daniel M. Kammen Director, Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley
Vinod Khosla Founder, Khosla Ventures
Christof Koch Lois and Victor Troendle Professor of Cognitive and Behavioral Biology, Caltech
Lawrence M. Krauss Director, Origins Initiative, Arizona State University
Morten L. Kringelbach Director, Hedonia: TrygFonden Research Group, University of Oxford and University of Aarhus
Steven Kyle Professor of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University
Robert S. Langer David H. Koch Institute Professor, M.I.T.
Lawrence Lessig Professor, Harvard Law School
John P. Moore Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Weill Medical College of Cornell University
M. Granger Morgan Professor and Head of Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University
Miguel Nicolelis Co-director, Center for Neuroengineering, Duke University
Martin Nowak Director, Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, Harvard University
Robert Palazzo Provost and Professor of Biology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Vilayanur S. Ramachandran Director, Center for Brain and Cognition, University of California, San Diego
Lisa Randall Professor of Physics, Harvard University
Martin Rees Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics, University of Cambridge
John Reganold Regents Professor of Soil Science, Washington State University
Jeffrey D. Sachs Director, The Earth Institute, Columbia University
Eugenie Scott Executive Director, National Center for Science Education
Terry Sejnowski Professor and Laboratory Head of Computational Neurobiology Laboratory, Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Michael Snyder Professor of Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine
Michael E. Webber Associate Director, Center for International Energy & Environmental Policy, University of Texas at Austin
Steven Weinberg Director, Theory Research Group, Department of Physics, University of Texas at Austin (Nobel Prize in Physics, 1979)
George M. Whitesides Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University
Nathan Wolfe Director, Global Viral Forecasting Initiative
R. James Woolsey, Jr. Senior Executive Adviser for Energy and Security, Booz Allen Hamilton
Anton Zeilinger Professor of Quantum Optics, Quantum Nanophysics, Quantum Information, University of Vienna
Jonathan Zittrain Professor, Harvard Law School
Note: This article was originally printed with the title, “From the Sources.”
