Dictionary of Scientific Biography

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The Dictionary of Scientific Biography is a scholarly reference work published originally in 1970-1980, now supplemented by 'New Dictionary of Scientific Biography and a combined electronic version.

Contents

[edit] Dictionary of Scientific Biography

The Dictionary of Scientific Biography is a scholarly reference work consisting of biographies of scientists from antiquity to modern times, excluding scientists who were alive when the Dictionary was first published. It includes scientists who worked in the areas of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and earth sciences. The work is notable for being one of the most substantial reference works in the field of history of science, containing extensive biographies on hundreds of figures. It gives information about both the personal biography and in considerable detail about the scientific contributions. Engineers, physicians, social scientists and philosophers only appeared "when their work was intrinsically related to the sciences of nature or to mathematics."[1], [2] Though the Dictionary has worldwide coverage, the editors write that it focusses most on Western scientists, due to the limited availability of scholarship about Asian, Indian and Islamic historical scientists at the time.[1]

The articles in the Dictionary are typically 1-5 pages, and are written by eminent historians of science. All articles list a selection of the original works of the subject, as well as a comprehensive list of the secondary literature about them (which may be in any language), including early works as well as more contemporary ones.

The first volume of the Dictionary was first put out in 1970, under the general editorship of Charles Coulston Gillispie and completed in 1980. It was published under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies by Charles Scribner's Sons and has 16 volumes; vol. 15 is entitled "Supplement I" which contains some additional biographies as well as topical essays on non-Western scientific traditions; vol. 16 is the general index. In 1981, the American Library Association awarded it the Dartmouth Medal for a reference work of outstanding quality and significance. A further 2-volume supplement of additional biographies was issued in 1990.

A "concise" abridged version was issued in 1981 by the same publisher; this edition is only one volume. Its second edition (2001) includes the 1990 supplement content.

[edit] New Dictionary of Scientific Biography

The New Dictionary of Scientific Biography, edited by Noretta Koertge, was published by Scribners (an imprint of Gale, now part of Cengage Learning) in December 2007 with 775 additional entries.[3] Nearly 500 of these are new articles about scientists who died after 1950 and thus were not included in the original Dictionary; 75 articles are on figures from earlier periods not included in the original Dictionary of Scientific Biography, including a substantial number of female scientific figures; 250 are supplementary or replacement articles giving recent research and interpretation. The coverage now includes psychology, anthropology, and to a limited extent some areas of sociology and economics. [4], [5]

[edit] Electronic Version

An electronic version -- the Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography -- was also released in 2007. It includes the complete text of the 18-volume original, plus the New Dictionary of Scientific Biography, together with a comprehensive index. The actual material is however not merged.

[edit] Editions

  • Gillispie, Charles C., editor in chief. Dictionary of Scientific Biography. New York, NY: Charles Scribner and Sons, 1970-1980. 16 vols. ISBN 0684101149. Supplement II, edited by Frederic Lawrence Holmes, 2 vols., 1990. ISBN 0684169622 (set).
  • Concise Dictionary of Scientific Biography. American Council of Learned Societies. New York Scribner, 1981. ISBN 068416650X.
  • Koertge, Noretta, editor in chief. New Dictionary of Scientific Biography. New York, NY: Charles Scribner and Sons, 2007. 8 vols. ISBN 0684313200.
  • Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography, 2007. ISBN 0684315599.

[edit] Reviews

  • by Jacques Barzun, in Science (journal), Vol. 170. no. 3958, pp. 615 - 616 DOI: 10.1126/science.170.3958.615
  • by Krupp, E. C. "Prisoner in Disguise - A Review of: Dictionary of Scientific Biography Volume XV, Supplement I"

Archaeoastronomy, Vol. 8, p.142

  • Stephen G. Brush "A Facinating Reference: Dictionary of Scientific Biography" The Physics Teacher -- March 1972 -- Volume 10, Issue 3, p. 158 doi:10.1119/1.2352143

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Gillispie, Charles C., editor in chief. Dictionary of Scientific Biography. New York, NY: Charles Scribner and Sons, 1970-1980. 16 vols. Introduction, v. 1, p. ix-x.
  2. ^ Dictionary of Scientific Biography at the Scholarly Societies project at the University of Waterloo.
  3. ^ New Dictionary of Scientific Biography
  4. ^ Alphabetical list of new articles [1]
  5. ^ [2].

[edit] External links


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