Piel graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor of arts degree in 1937. He was the science editor of Life Magazine from 1939 to 1945. In 1946 and 1947, he worked at the Henry Kaiser Company as assistant to the president. In 1948, in association with two colleagues, he launched a new version of Scientific American, to promote science literacy for the general public in the postwar era. He held a number of honorary degrees and awards, including the UNESCO Kalinga Prize in 1962.

Books

• The Age of Science: What We Learned in the 20th Century
• Science in the Cause of Man
• The Acceleration of History Alfred A. Knopf, 1972, ISBN 0-394-47312-4
• Only One World
• The World of Rene Dubos: A Collection of His Writings

Articles