Scientific American Shares 171 Years of Covering Advances in Printing Technology

Scientific American celebrates its 171st birthday this month: The publication's first issue was dated August 28, 1845. Initially a weekly four-page broadsheet, it shifted over to a monthly magazine with the November 1921 issue, and has been rolling off printing presses as such ever since, making it the the oldest continuously published magazine in the United States.

I'm a graphics editor here at Scientific American, so it may not surprise you that some of my favorite articles from the archive are rooted in the process of making and printing images. Lucky for me, the topic is built into the very core of the magazine.