Penguin Dictionary of Science: Fourth Edition

The Penguin Dictionary of Science covers all the important topics in this key subject area including chemistry, physics, molecular biology, biochemistry, human anatomy, mathematics, astronomy and computing. Superbly comprehensive and accessible, this newly updated dictionary is the ideal reference tool for anyone who needs to understand scientific terms, whether student, researcher or enthusiastic layperson. - Provides clear definitions of some 7,000 scientific terms - Gives succinct explanations of fundamental terms (ammonia, base pairing, cell) and more specialist concepts (allosteric enzyme, Bravais lattice, close packing) - Covers individual elements and chemical compounds in detail - Contains appendices ranging from lists of SI units and fundamental constants to the periodic table and an outline classification of living organisms - Includes hundreds of illustrations and diagrams

Michael Clugston was born in Lurgan, Northern Ireland, in 1950 and educated at Epsom College and Wadham College, Oxford, where he was the Major Scholar in Chemistry in 1969. He continued his studies and research at both Harvard and Cambridge, before going into full-time school mastering at Tonbridge School in 1978, where he has been ever since. He has written extensively on Chemistry and Science more generally, and was shortlisted for the Salters Prize for Chemistry teachers in 2000.