Even 25 years later, the inaugural issue of Discover is fun to read. Implantable heart defibrillators and in-dash computer systems aren’t exactly cutting-edge technologies anymore, but it’s thought provoking to peruse stories about them and consider how far technology has come. Other articles in the October 1980 issue don’t seem dated at all. James Gorman’s “Creationism on the Rise,” for example, is eerily relevant to today’s battles over teaching evolution in school. Whatever the subject, the magazine’s love of exploration remains timeless and captivating.

The first issue of Discover - 25 years ago.

It was the thirst for discovery that inspired Leon Jaroff to champion the launch of a science magazine at Time Inc., where he worked as a senior editor at Time. “I justified setting up the magazine by keeping very close records of newsstand sales of Time magazine,” he says. “Almost invariably, when the cover was science or medicine, the sales shot up.” Jaroff became Discover’s first managing editor, a role similar to today’s editor in chief. After four and a half years at the helm, he returned to Time, where he continues to write for the magazine and its Web site.

 Discover has carried on—with changes. Originally, it sold for $2 on the newsstand versus $4.99 today. Versions are now published in China and Romania, the magazine has its own Web site, and circulation is nearly 900,000 copies per month. Over the years, Discover has seen three owners—Time Inc., Family Media, and the Walt Disney Company—and will soon be sold to a fourth. Parts of the magazine have come and gone, too—at its inception it had columns like Skeptical Eye and Inventions but no Vital Signs, Bogglers, or Sky Lights.

 More obvious, though, are the ways in which the magazine has stayed the same. “What science does, and how, flashes persistently across our lives with an immediacy that demands a new kind of comprehension. Hence a newsmagazine of science. Hence Discover,” Jaroff wrote in the magazine’s first letter from the editor. Discover still aspires to instill that comprehension and to capture science and technology innovation. More than that, the editors hope to provoke thought, discussion, and inspiration. “The day we started Discover was always a high point in my career. I will never forget it,” Jaroff says. “I’m delighted that it’s still going strong. I wish it a long life.”