Of these ventures, the most prominent were three magazines (Discover, Science Digest, and Science 80, later 81,82, etc.) whose finances depended on commercial advertising. Science was to be an economic commodity that could be sold in the same way that skiing, sailing or city life are sold in magazines.
Not surprisingly, the new project excited professional science writers. Vocal about their support (through articles in the trade press and elsewhere), they helped create a media bandwagon. By 1980, the boom was on.
At first, signs were good as Science 80 doubled its expected circulation (to 700,000) and as Discover regularly sold more than 750,000 copies. But disturbing problems ap peared quickly, when a few magazines, such as Technology and SciQuest, folded by 1981.
Although some observers attributed the failures to magazine economics, others questioned the viability of popular science projects—especially those, like Science 80, which were supported by scientific organizations ...
