Laura Helmuth was named editor-in-chief of Scientific American in March 2020, shortly before the magazine was set to celebrate its 175th year in print. Helmuth, who had previously directed health and science coverage at The Washington Post, told Poynter it was her dream job: "I love this magazine. It’s been around forever ... and I want to make it even more influential.”
Last week, after four-and-a-half years at the helm of the oldest continuously published magazine in the United States, Helmuth resigned. She made this decision shortly after a series of posts on Bluesky in which she called Trump voters "fucking fascists." Helmuth later deleted the posts, but screenshots wound their way to Twitter, where Elon Musk weighed in, leading to a wave of online harassment. It's unclear what exactly prompted Helmuth's resignation, but it's hard not to connect the dots. Helmuth did not respond to a request for comment.
