Science et vie and the genesis of the space race

Abstract

The French magazine Science et Vie was first published in April 1913. Under the slogan «les questions de la vie, les réponses de la science» it raised its standing in the popularization of exact and natural sciences during the following decades. At the height of the Moon Race, it was a leading magazine in the dissemination of scientific and technological knowledge. Popularizing the latest scientific discoveries Science et Vie gave visibility, after the Second World War, to the extraordinary advances in military technology that occurred during that period, especially in the aeronautical field, that headed to the development of the modern rocket and speeded up the entry in the so-called Space Age. In particular, readers could learn about the V-2 construction, an impressive military engineering feat. This controversial first ballistic missile, initially a fearsome and indefensible weapon, would become the subject of an enormous dispute between the United States and the Soviet Union and would prove to be a fundamental element in the beginning of the scientific exploration of the upper layers of the atmosphere and outer space. This work is focused on the articles published by Science et Vie, from 1945 to 1957, related with the first period of the Space Race, from the V-2 exploratory tests to the launch of the first artificial satellite, the Sputnik 1. This complex geopolitical period that coincided with the beginning of the Cold War, would mark the future of the space conquest and, therefore, the whole second half of the 20th century. Analysis results of written reports, significant events, technologies, protagonists, and collaborators are highlighted.