History of Science

Telescopes in space give us a view we literally cannot get from the ground

Kosmos-482, a failed mission to Venus from the former Soviet Union that stalled in Earth orbit in the 1970s, is about to fall back to our planet. Exactly where or when it will strike, however, remains unknown

Einstein offers a lesson for scientists who are protesting an out-of-control nationalist administration attacking U.S. science today

A Trump-aligned prosecutor’s attack on medical journals is a threat to your health care—and the medical establishment should not comply

The mathematics underpinning the modern method of elliptic curve cryptography originated with Renaissance architect Filippo Brunelleschi

We present a historical romp through Scientific American—100 years ago.

After netting the world’s highest-paying science award, preeminent theoretical physicist Gerard ’t Hooft reflects on his legacy and the future of physics

Beginning in the 1930s, the work—and eventually the life—of Andrea Evangelina Rodríguez Perozo, the Dominican Republic’s first female doctor, became threatened by the country’s then new dictator

A long-simmering disagreement over the universe’s present-day expansion rate shows no signs of resolution, leaving experts increasingly vexed

Evidence of alien worlds goes back farther than you think

Supersymmetry, long considered the golden child of theoretical physics, has officially lost its luster at the world’s reigning particle accelerator

Uncorrected errors in science and the unconscionable reluctance to correct them erodes trust in science, throws away taxpayer money, harms the public’s health and can kill innocent people