Dan Schlenoff was a contributing editor at Scientific American and edited the 50, 100 and 150 Years Ago column for one seventh of the magazine's history.
Magnets of Mercy Treat War Injuries, 1915
Reported in Scientific American, This Week in World War I: March 13, 1915 In a war that was defined by the mass production of war supplies, the great manufacturing center of Pittsburgh, Pa., was already an important source of matériel for all the armies involved: "Pittsburgh's great industrial plants are furnishing practically all the barbed [...]
The Big Guns, 1915
Reported in Scientific American, This Week in World War I: March 6, 1915 World War I was an artillery war. Even as new technology—tanks, airplanes, submarines and poison gas—changed the nature of fighting, it was the power of mass manufacturing that had the most profound effect on the conduct of war.
Saturn: A History [Slide Show]
Our understanding of this planet has evolved in step with scientific progress
American Fear, 1915
Reported in Scientific American, This Week in World War I: February 27, 1915 The size, speed and ferocity of the Great War was unprecedented.
Airborne Scouts, 1915
Reported in Scientific American, This Week in World War I: February 20, 1915 The usefulness of scouting from the air had been demonstrated in the early days of the Great War.
Air Defenses against Zeppelins, 1915
Reported in Scientific American, This Week in World War I: February 13, 1915 German Zeppelins (airships with rigid frames) bombed Liège, Belgium, on August 6, 1914, only a few days after the Great War broke out.
Deception and Camouflage, 1915
Reported in Scientific American, this Week in World War I: February 6, 1915
Subtlety and illusion have always played a part in warfare
Medical Technology, 1915 [Slideshow]
The science of healing from a century ago
X-Rays at War, 1915
Reported in Scientific American, This Week in World War I: January 30, 1915 X-rays were used for medical operations within a couple of months after they were discovered by Wilhelm Roentgen in late 1895.
X-Rays at War, 1915
Reported in Scientific American, This Week in World War I: January 30, 1915 X-rays were used for medical operations within a couple of months after they were discovered by Wilhelm Roentgen in late 1895.
Fortress of Water, 1915
Reported in Scientific American, This Week in World War I: January 23, 1915 The cover of this issue of the magazine has a boisterous scene from the opening months of the First World War, titled "Night attack by German armored motor boats in a flooded section of Flanders." There is no story inside relating to [...]
Extreme Submarine, 1915
Reported in Scientific American, This Week in World War I: January 16, 1915 Before the First World War, Simon Lake designed and built some innovative submarines for the U.S.
An American Pilot at War, 1915 (Part III)
Reported in Scientific American, This Week in World War I: January 9, 1915 In this issue of Scientific American from 1915, we published the last installment of a three-part account: "War Experiences of an Air Scout: A Battle in the Clouds," by Frederick C.
An American Pilot at War, 1915 (Part II)
Reported in Scientific American, This Week in World War I: January 2, 1915 In this issue of Scientific American from 1915, we published the second installment of a three-part first-hand account: "War Experiences of an Air Scout: Patrol of the Sky" by Frederick C.
Challenging the Immigrant
The Ellis Island intelligence tests, 1915
An American Pilot at War, 1914 (Part I)
Reported in Scientific American, This Week in World War I: December 26, 1914 In this issue of Scientific American from 1914, we published the first installment of a three-part first-hand account: "War Experiences of an Air Scout: The Diary of an American Volunteer With the Aviation Corps of the French Army," by Frederick C.
Ramming a Submarine, 1914
Reported in Scientific American, This Week in World War I: December 19, 1914 Scientific American in 1914 sometimes used large, single-theme images for the issue cover.
First Airplane Flight Marks 111th Anniversary!
It was 111 years ago today that the world's first piloted, powered, controllable, heavier-than-air machine built and flown by Orville and Wilbur Wright took to the air.
Lawrence in Arabia: from Archaeologist to Spy, 1914
Reported in Scientific American, This Week in World War I: December 12, 1914 Here's a short, cryptic note from our December 12, 1914, issue, about scientific work being carried out in the Middle East: "Survey of Southern Palestine.—A considerable amount of surveying and exploration has recently been done along the southern frontier of Palestine under [...]
Battleships and Diplomacy, 1914
Reported in Scientific American, This Week in World War I: December 5, 1914 Two ships from the German navy had an outsize part in the history of the First World War: the Goeben and Breslau.
Motor Vehicles, 1914 [Slide Show]
A look at the machines that moved us a century ago
Battleship Disaster Coverup, 1914
Reported in Scientific American, This Week in World War I: November 28, 1914 On this date 100 years ago Scientific American reported on the sinking of HMS Audacious, one of the British Royal Navy's most modern "dreadnoughts"—the largest and most powerful battleships in existance in 1914.
Care of the Wounded, 1914
Reported in Scientific American, This Week in World War I: November 21, 1914 From the Scientific American Supplement issue of November 21, 1914, we note, "The first object of an army in war is to disperse or destroy the enemy, but a correlative duty is the care of its own men when wounded or otherwise [...]
The Ferocity of Artillery, 1914
Reported in Scientific American, This Week in World War I: November 14, 1914 The tactical use of artillery had been evolving in the years before the Great War: In South Africa in the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 the British developed the concept of the "creeping barrage," where a curtain of shellfire proceeded just in front [...]