JF Ptak Science Books Post 1579
One of the real pleasures of being a bookseller is the discovery of the unexpected source--in this case it was a small group of papers that at one time belonged to David Katcher, who--among many other things--was the first editor of the American Institute of Physics' magazine, Physics Today. It was started in 1948 to help bridge the gap between good science writ bad and hard science writ even worse for the world of the general reader. These are a few of the fragments from the editor's desk, as Katcher was organizing his thoughts about what the magazine would be about, who would write for it, and how the ideas would be presented.
For example, this worksheet for the first issues of the magazine outlined articles by some of the heaviest names in physics, with "something" by Bush, Conant, Oppenheimer; as well as who would be the target audience ("all"); and who the contributors would be ('big name"). Quite a different world and pace, then, and one in which a forceful man like Katcher could do a lot in, and quickly.
Then there's this interesting page of notes of a conversation between Katcher and the great I.I. Rabi, who offered some suggestions and insights about what might appear in the new magazine:
And this, Katcher's very clear statement on editorial policy (for 28 July 1948):
And the outline on the use of mathematics in the magazine:
To me these are very interesting geological bits in the deep strata of one of America's premier physics journals, and its a pleasure to see how some clear and concise thinking by its first editor helped get this magazine into print.
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