Challenging the notion that science periodicals target only a scientific audience, the executive editor of Scientific American said magazines like hers help the general public appreciate new discoveries. Mariette DiChristina told a crowd of approximately 50 in Memorial Union Tuesday that science is not simply the realm of the educated elite.
\What is science if not the great pursuit of truth?"" DiChristina said, adding that her magazine takes readers on ""an intellectual armchair journey"" toward understanding the world.
She then showed a cartoon in which one scientist says to another, ""Sometimes I wonder if there's more to life than unlocking the mysteries of the universe.""
""I tell scientists, 'absolutely',"" DiChristina said. ""You have to tell someone about [your discovery] or it doesn't matter."" Scientific American is one vehicle for them to get that word out, she said.
According to DiChristina, only 4 to 8 percent of Scientific American readers label themselves scientists. The rest fit a broad demographic, but are most often men in their mid-40s whose median annual income is approximately $85,000.
When an audience member noted that this income level is high, a second audience member, UW-Madison atmospheric sciences Professor Steve Ackerman, quipped, ""That's how you know it's not scientists reading.""
Scientific American, founded in 1845, is the nation's longest-running continuously publishing magazine. Two of its early investors earned their fortunes in the firearms and alcohol industries, giving the magazine interesting-if infamous-beginnings, DiChristina said.
Since then, the magazine has presented the works of countless luminaries, including Nobel laureates such as Albert Einstein, Linus Pauling and Niels Bohr.
""Can you imagine editing those people?"" she asked. ""Usually with journalists, an editor tells them what to write and by when. With these guys, you don't tell them, you 'invite' them to write for you.""
Scientific American has a circulation of over three million readers worldwide. Because it takes a month just to print and bind that many copies, the magazine rarely contains breaking news. Instead, it focuses on questions of general interest, written at a level that high school graduates can understand.
DiChristina spoke as part of UW-Madison's science-writer-in-residence program. Sharon Dunwoody, an organizer and UW-Madison journalism professor, was thrilled with DiChristina's talk.
""It was a great look at the interaction between science and journalism, through the lens of a unique magazine,"" she said. ""Scientists and journalists could certainly relate to what she said.\
