New Dictionary of Scientific Biography: 8 Volume set - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0684313200 ISBN 13: 9780684313207

Publisher: Charles Scribner & Sons, 2007

Synopsis

The New Dictionary of Scientific Biography is the first major expansion of the classic Dictionary of Scientific Biography, and features more than 800 completely new articles. This work extends, complements, and comments upon the original Dictionary of Scientific Biography, which contains thousands of biographies of mathematicians and natural scientists from all countries and from all historical periods. The Dictionary of Scientific Biography presents an accurate and reliable narrative of the development of science, not as a mere accumulation of technical information but as the collective accomplishment that has ordered our understanding of nature. More than 500 of the new articles are devoted to scientists deceased since 1980 and not previously treated in the Dictionary of Scientific Biography including Hans Bethe, Francis Crick, Richard Feynman, Stephen Jay Gould, Fred Hoyle, Mary Leakey, Konrad Lorenz, Barbara McClintock, Linus Pauling, Andrei Sakharov, B. F. Skinner, and Edward Teller. There are also more than 75 articles on figures overlooked in the original Dictionary of Scientific Biography (from Chrysippus to Kinsey) and 250 commentaries on important careers that have inspired new research and interpretation (from Archimedes and Aristotle to Darwin, Einstein, and Oppenheimer).

Through a special arrangement with the American Council of Learned Societies, Charle

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Reviews

Grade 10 Up—These approximately 740 articles update information found in the Dictionary of Scientific Biography (1970–1980) and its two-volume 1990 supplement. They also reevaluate previously discussed scientists (Isaac Newton); add prominent individuals who have died since the previous publication (Stephen Gould); include new or previously minimally treated fields such as computer science (Ada Lovelace), ecology (Aldo Leopold), the sociology and philosophy of science (Thomas Kuhn), and psychology (Jean Piaget); and groups underrepresented in the earlier editions, such as Arabic peoples of the medieval era, females, African Americans, and Asians. This latter extension is hard to verify, as there is no ethnic-, nationality-, or gender-based list; African-American scientists Charles Drew and Percy Julian, however, are absent. Articles discuss the scientists' lives and the social context and technical aspects of their work. Each entry includes a bibliography, and many have black-and-white portraits or photographs of subjects at work. Though generally comprehensible to students with a strong science background, some articles are more accessible than others. A detailed index, cross-references, and a list of scientists by field are additional strengths. Schools that have the earlier work may want this update; others may prefer the electronic Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography, which includes the material from both print works.—Judith V. Lechner, Auburn University, AL
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Edition details

• Publisher: Charles Scribner & Sons
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0684313200
• ISBN 13: 9780684313207
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 4400
• Editor: Koertge Noretta