Americans today may be more concerned with living longer than at any point in their history. But the science of aging is by no means young. As molecular biologists begin to understand the mechanisms behind the aging process (see "The Fountain of Health"), they address questions raised in the pages of this magazine 65 years ago. In the June 1941 issue of Technology Review, Edward J. Stieglitz urged the scientific community to pursue gerontology. Noting the dramatic increase in life expectancy over the first part of the 20th century, he wrote,

...in 1900 only 17 per cent of the total population of the United States were forty-five years old or more. In 1940, 26.5 per cent were over forty-five, and conservative projection results in the estimate that in 1980 -- only forty years hence -- more than 40 per cent of our population will be over forty-five years of age.