Review by Choice Review
No one would curl up with this functional reference tool for fun, but it could prove quite useful. In fact this reviewer put it to use the day it arrived. The format is unchanged from the first edition (CH, Sep'81): over 10,000 entries, listed alphabetically by name, include birth and death dates, scientific field of endeavor, and abbreviations for works containing information on that scientist. Nearly 350 collective biographies published between 1960 and 1992 are indexed, more than double the number indexed by the first edition. Works emphasizing women and minorities are included, but works with brief entries, e.g., American Men and Women of Science (CH, Sep'74; Dec'74; Apr'77) are not. There are also lists of scientists by field of endeavor. Fields included in this edition but not found in the first are immunology, speleology, and toxicology; among the unusual subjects covered are polymathy, space law, and translation of science literature. Science patronage has been deleted. One typo discovered: Ernest Krause's name is misspelled in the list of science educators. Highly recommended for public, undergraduate, and community college libraries. T. R. Faust; Wake Forest University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
This new edition is slightly longer than the second, published in 1985, and indexes collective biographies published between 1960 and 1992. Approximately 6 percent of the 330 sources were published in the 1990s. General works of collective biography are indexed only for subjects who are scientists. The editor provides this definition of scientist: "those people in what is sometimes referred to as natural science and includes those engaged in technology. Fields generally referred to as social science.ÿ20.ÿ20.ÿ20are not included, though individuals who are known for their work in social science sometimes appear because of their work in other areas that may be classified as natural science or technology." Benjamin Franklin is thus listed as a physicist, oceanographer, and meteorologist; John Maynard Keynes is listed as a mathematician. Some omissions are puzzling. Why omit Ada, Countess of Lovelace, but include Charles Babbage and Grace Hopper? Stephen Hawking is not listed, although he appears in the 1984 volume of Current Biography. An effort has been made to seek out works that cover women, blacks, and Hispanics. Books indexed cover a wide range of levels of scholarship from The Dictionary of Scientific Biography to The People's Almanac. Many of the collective works could easily be included in children's or young adult collections. The arrangement is Granger's-like: instructions on use followed by a symbol key to the books indexed and a key to abbreviations of subjects' fields. The bulk of the text is a two-column list of citations, giving name, dates, field(s), and works indexed. There is enough free white space to suggest that fields need not have been abbreviated, and the abbreviations key could have been omitted. An index of names by field at the end will be useful in helping students who have to do a report on a scientist in a given field. Medium to large public libraries will find Prominent Scientists useful in helping the homework set. Academic libraries where courses in the history of science are taught will also find it useful for students. Someone on staff will need to go through the "Key to Books Indexed" and pencil in call numbers for holdings, but it will be worth it. (Reviewed June 1994)
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
This expanded and updated third edition lists over 14,000 scientists whose biographies appear in 330 English-language sources published in the last four decades. Mostly popular in nature, the sources cover such diverse disciplines as entomology, physics, psychology, engineering, medicine, and natural history. The editor has also included general collective biographical sources in which scientists appear. The heart of this index lists scientists alphabetically by surname, providing birth and death dates and areas of research (tree surgery, virology, science education, seismology, etc.). Codes are then listed that correspond to the source in which biographical information for that person appears. The final section lists scientists by field of research. Aside from being a useful reference tool, this work might also serve as a collection development aid for librarians who wish to improve their scientific biography collections.-Leacy Pryor, NYPL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Library Journal Review
