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.[1][2][3] The column was regarded for revealing the brass-tacks secrets of research and showing home-based experimenters how to make original discoveries using only inexpensive materials. Since its début in 1928, "The Amateur Scientist" was a primary resource for science fair projects. It also inspired amateur experimenters, launched careers in science, and enjoyed a place of honor in classrooms and school libraries all over the world.
Although always accessible to an amateur's budget, projects from "The Amateur Scientist" were often elegant and sophisticated. Some designs were so innovative that they set new standards in a field. Indeed, professionals continue to borrow from "The Amateur Scientist" to find low-cost solutions to real-world research problems.
Albert Ingalls
"The Amateur Scientist" traces its pedigree to May 1928, when
C. L. Stong
Ingalls wrote his column for almost 30 years, until his retirement in May 1955. In that year the publisher selected
In 1960 Stong compiled a book titled The Amateur Scientist, (Simon and Schuster) the only collection of articles that has ever been published from this column prior to Carlson and Greaves' complete CD-collection (see below). However, limited to paper and ink, Stong could only fit in 57 projects.[6] Stong's book was reviewed in New Scientist as "most fascinating"[7] and sold well. It went out of print in 1972 and is much sought-after today by amateur scientists and collectors.
Jearl Walker
Stong ran the department for over 20 years until he died in 1977. In 1978, Scientific American hired Jearl Walker, Ph.D. to take over. Walker had caught the publisher's attention thanks to The Flying Circus of Physics, Answers, a book Walker wrote which highlighted the fascinating physics of the everyday world.[8] Under Walker's stewardship "The Amateur Scientist" presented fewer how-to projects, and instead focused on the physics of common phenomena.
Walker resigned from Scientific American in 1990 after 12 years. Collectively, Ingalls, Stong and Walker account for 90 percent of all articles.
Forrest Mims
After Walker left, Scientific American decided to rededicate the column to hands-on projects and so they offered the column to Forrest Mims III, a renowned writer of books for Radio Shack and an amateur scientist. However, during a conversation between Mims and the publisher, it came up that Mims was an evangelical Christian and creationist who rejected the science of evolution. Not wanting to be perceived as supporting Creationism, Scientific American rescinded their offer.[9] Mims charged religious discrimination without success. Ultimately, the magazine published just three of Mims' articles, along with several letters to the editor concerning his firing.
Although the incident did not diminish Scientific American's commitment to the column, it did make the editors reluctant to offer the column to another amateur scientist. The magazine invited a number of potential columnists to submit articles, some of which it published. But Scientific American was unable to find anyone with both professional credentials and the breadth of scientific interests necessary to recapture the popularity the column enjoyed under Stong and Ingalls. Without a regular columnist, the department languished, appearing only sporadically between 1990 and 1995.
Shawn Carlson
In 1995 Scientific American discovered the
In 2001, Scientific American came under new management. As part of a redesign of the magazine, all of the long-running columns were retired, including "The Amateur Scientist". March 2001 was the last time the column ran in Scientific American. Archived versions of the column remained available to Scientific American paid subscribers via their website.
Carlson, along with co-editor Sheldon Greaves, Ph.D., created The Amateur Scientist-The Complete Collection, a CD-ROM containing all the articles in a fully text-searchable HTML format.
Online back-issues and CD-ROM
Sometime after 2007 the Scientific American removed the subscriber-only requirement for certain years of the magazine, making "The Amateur Scientist" column for 1999-2001 available online.
References
- ISBN 9780970347626.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - ^ "Scientific American's, The Amateur Scientist". scienceacademy.com. Archived from the original on 2012-09-09. Retrieved 2009-04-27.
- ^ ISBN 9780471382829.
- ^ W. Patrick McCray, Keep watching the skies!, page 38
- ^ "C. L. Stong Papers, 1952-1976". siris-archives.si.edu. Smithsonian Institution Research Information System. Retrieved 2009-04-27.
- ISBN 9780671207472.
- ^ "Do-it-yourself science". New Scientist. 18: 46. 1963.
- ISBN 9780471918080.
The Flying Circus of Physics.
- ISBN 9781556612299.