Gerard Piel (1 March 1915 in
Woodmere, N.Y. – 5 September 2004) was the publisher of the new
Scientific American magazine starting in 1948. He wrote for magazines, including ''
The Nation'', and published books on science for the general public. In 1990, Piel was presented with the ''In Praise of Reason'' award by the
Committee for Skeptical Inquiry
The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), formerly known as the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), is a program within the US non-profit organization Center for Inquiry (CFI), which seeks to "prom ...
(CSICOP).
Education and career
Piel graduated from
Harvard University, magna cum laude, with a bachelor of arts degree in 1937. He was the science editor of
Life Magazine
''Life'' was an American magazine published weekly from 1883 to 1972, as an intermittent "special" until 1978, and as a monthly from 1978 until 2000. During its golden age from 1936 to 1972, ''Life'' was a wide-ranging weekly general-interest ma ...
from 1939 to 1945. In 1946 and 1947, he worked at the
Henry Kaiser Company as assistant to the president. In 1948, in association with two colleagues, he launched a new version of
Scientific American, to promote science literacy for the general public in the postwar era. In January 1957 Piel hired the then unknown
Martin Gardner to write the
Mathematical Games column, a feature that became one of the most popular parts of the magazine, lasted for 25 years, and produced almost 300 columns.
Piel was elected to the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the
American Philosophical Society. He held a number of honorary degrees and awards, including the
UNESCO Kalinga Prize in 1962.
[''The Acceleration of History'' Alfred A. Knopf, 1972, ]
Bibliography
Books
*''The Age of Science: What We Learned in the 20th Century''
*''Science in the Cause of Man''
*''The Acceleration of History''
Alfred A. Knopf, 1972,
*''Only One World: Our Own to Make and to Keep'', 1992
*''The World of Rene Dubos: A Collection of His Writings''
Articles
*
References
1915 births
2004 deaths
Harvard University alumni
Scientific American people
Kalinga Prize recipients
American science writers
People from Woodmere, New York
20th-century American journalists
American male journalists
Members of the National Academy of Medicine
{{US-journalist-1910s-stub
Members of the American Philosophical Society