Discover is an American general audience science
magazine launched in October 1980 by Time
Inc.
It has been owned by Kalmbach Publishing since
2010.
== History ==
=== 
Founding ===
Discover was created primarily through the
efforts of Time magazine editor Leon Jaroff.
He noticed that magazine sales jumped every
time the cover featured a science topic.
Jaroff interpreted this as a considerable
public interest in science, and in 1971, he
began agitating for the creation of a science-oriented
magazine.
This was difficult, as a former colleague
noted, because "Selling science to people
who graduated to be managers was very difficult".Jaroff's
persistence finally paid off, and Discover
magazine published its first edition in 1980.
Discover was originally launched into a burgeoning
market for science magazines aimed at educated
non-professionals, intended to be easier to
read than Scientific American but more detailed
and science-oriented than Popular Science.
Shortly after its launch, the American Association
for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) launched
a similar magazine called Science 80 (not
to be confused with its flagship academic
journal), and both Science News and Science
Digest changed their formats to follow the
new trend.
During this period, Discover featured fairly
in-depth science reporting on "hard science"
and avoided fringe topics like extraterrestrial
intelligence.
Most issues contained an essay by a well-known
scientist—such as Stephen Jay Gould, Jared
Diamond, and Stephen Hawking.
Another common article was a biography, often
linked with mentions of other scientists working
in the field.
The "Skeptical Eye" column sought to uncover
pop-science scams, and was the medium where
James Randi released the results of Project
Alpha.
Jaroff said that it was the most-read section
at its launch.
=== Competition and change ===
The sudden appearance of so many magazines
in the same market space inevitably led to
some falling by the wayside, and Discover
was left largely alone in its market space
by the mid-1980s, it nevertheless decided
to appeal to a wider audience, by including
articles on psychology and psychiatry.
Jaroff told the editor-in-chief that these
were not "solid sciences", and was sent back
to Discover's parent, Time, Inc.
"Skeptical Eye" and other columns disappeared,
and articles covered more controversial, speculative
topics (like "How the Universe Will End").
The new format was a great success, and the
new format remained largely unchanged for
the next two decades.
Gilbert Rogin, a Sports Illustrated editor,
was brought in 1985 to revive Discover.
In 1986, Time purchased the subscription lists
of the shuttered magazines Science Digest
and Science 86 from their publishers.
Circulation for the magazine reached 925,000
by May 1987 with revenue for 1986 being $6.9
million., but annual net loss were $10 million
per year.In January 1987, Time appointed a
new Discover publisher, Bruce A. Barnet, previously
publisher of Picture Week test magazine from
August 1985 to replace James B. Hayes, who
was appointed publisher of Fortune.The magazine
changed hands several times.
In 1987, Time, Inc. sold Discover to Family
Media, the owners of Health, Golf Illustrated,
Homeowner, 1,001 Home Ideas and World Tennis,
for $26 million.
From January to July 1991, Discover magazine
lost 15% of its advertising while still remaining
profitable.
Family Media closed down while suspending
publication of all its magazines and place
them up for sale.
Family Media's last Discover issue was August
1991, with a circulation of 1.1 million copies.In
September 1991, The Walt Disney Company bought
the magazine for its Disney Publishing's Magazine
Group.
The magazine's main office was moved to the
Magazine Group office in Burbank while leaving
one third behind in New York in a small editorial
and advertising office.
Disney was able to retain Family Media's editor-in-chief
for the magazine, Paul Hoffman.
Disney increased the magazine's photography
(doubled) and its content budget to over come
skipping 2 issues in Family Media's shutdown
and ownership change.
In 1993, Disney Magazine Publishing Inc. decided
to launch a trade advertising campaign designed
with advertising firm Ziff Marketing to raise
awareness in the advertising field that the
magazine is an accessible general interest
magazine in the science category.In October
2005, Bob Guccione, Jr., founder of Spin and
Gear magazines, and some private equity partners
purchased the magazine from Disney.
Guccione served as CEO and oversaw a redesign
for the April 2006 issue.
However, Guccione was ousted as CEO in October
2007 in what was described as "a falling-out
over philosophical differences with his financial
backers".
Henry Donahue, Discover Media's chief financial
officer, became the new CEO.
In 2008, he also assumed the role of publisher.
In October 2008, Corey Powell, Discover’s
executive editor, became editor-in-chief.
As of April 2009, the magazine published combined
issues in January/February and July/August,
for a total of ten issues a year.In 2010 the
magazine was sold to Kalmbach Publishing,
whose books and magazines are generally about
craft and hobby subjects such as modeling
(Model Railroader, FineScale Modeler, Scale
Auto, Classic Toy Trains, Garden Railways,
Model Retailer) beadwork (BeadStyle, Bead&Button,
Art Jewelry), and the outdoors (Birder’s
World, Cabin Life, American Snowmobiler).
It has one other science magazine, Astronomy.
In August 2012 Kalmbach announced that Discover
would be moving from New York City to Kalmbach's
headquarters in Wisconsin in January 2013.
In December 2012, Stephen C. George became
the editor-in-chief.
Becky Lang is the current
editor-in-chief.
== Blog portal ==
The Discover website includes a collection
of blogs related to science, including Cosmic
Variance, Carl Zimmer's The Loom, and Melissa
Lafsky's Reality Base.
== TV series ==
From 1983-1990, PBS aired Discover: The World
of Science, a monthly hour-long news magazine
featuring topics from the publication and
hosted by Peter Graves.
== See also ==
Stephen Petranek - former editor
