Edmund Scientific Corporation, based in Barrington, New Jersey, was founded in 1942 as a retailer of surplus optical parts like lenses. It later branched out into complete systems like telescopes and microscopes, and in the 1960s, a wide variety of science toys and kits. Through the 1970s and 80s they were best known for their mail order sales and associated catalogs, although they also maintained a retail presence at their factory store.

In 1984, the company split into Edmund Scientific and Edmund Industrial Optics, the latter taking over their optical manufacturing. Later known simply as Edmund Optics, the commercial side of the company continued to expand and now has a multinational presence. In 2001, the two companies were purchased by Boreal Science, which was in turn purchased by VWR International. Many of the science toys and kits are currently offered by the online retailer Scientifics Direct.

Among the company's best-known products were the Astroscan reflector telescope and their inexpensive bimetallic jumping disks.