26 Fascinating Visions of the Future from 1920s Science and Invention Magazine

The 1920s were buzzing with ideas. Airplanes were still new, electricity was changing homes, and science magazines were filled with promises that the future was going to be wild. Science and Invention was one of the boldest of the bunch, with covers that looked less like serious predictions and more like science fiction pulp art. Every issue showed a world of gadgets, gizmos, and world-ending disasters that felt both exciting and slightly terrifying.

Some of these covers were genuinely ahead of their time. Jetpacks, snow-melting machines, and meal replacements sound a lot like tech people are still chasing today. Others were… well, let's just say questionable. (I don't think anyone's asking for "electrical meals" delivered by lightning bolts straight into their veins.) And then there's the good old end-of-the-world comet smashing Earth into fireballs, because even in the 1920s, nothing sold like doom.

Looking back at these covers is like opening a time capsule into a world where people thought anything was possible - because they hadn't yet figured out what wasn't. It's weird, it's fun, and it proves one thing: we've always been obsessed with the future.

Author image for John Summers John Summers
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