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General Science Biographical Sources
General Science Biographical Sources | Chemical
Biographical Sources | Other Things to Look For
| ONLINE CATALOG
Chemical biography can be divided into two areas: the past (those dead) and the present (those living). This guide offers a list of possible sources for finding biographical information on chemists, with the emphasis on the past. While chemistry has a rich and extensive historical record, biographical information is often limited to brief notes about dates, education, employment, and major accomplishments. Substantial background information is rare, unless the person is very famous.
American Men and Women of Science.
This is the primary "Who's Who" of science but is limited to scientists
who were alive and working at the time of publication. Included: basic
biography, positions, awards, research specialties, and addresses.
Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. 1982
Biographies of 1,510 significant people in the sciences, from ancient
to modern times, arranged chronologically. List of persons covered is in
front; subject index in back.
Biographical Dictionary of American Science: 17th through 19th Centuries. 1979
Entries on 600 American scientists born between 1606 and 1867.
Biographical Dictionary of Scientists. 3rd ed., 1982
Deceased scientists; includes a subject index. Also published as
divisions of scientific disciplines.
Biographical Dictionary of Scientists. Astronomers. 1984
Biographical Dictionary of Scientists. Biologists. 1984
Biographical Dictionary of Scientists. Engineers and Inventors.
1984
Biographical Dictionary of Scientists. Mathematicians. 1986
Biographical Dictionary of Scientists. Physicists. 1984
Dictionary of Scientific Biography. 1970.
Sixteen volume set of 5,000 biographies for deceased scientists.
Published by the American Council of Learned Societies.
Concise Dictionary of Scientific Biography. 1981
Abridged version of the larger Dictionary of Scientific Biography.
Biographies of deceased scientists. Published under the auspices of the
American Council of Learned Societies.
McGraw-Hill Modern Scientists and Engineers. 1980.
1,100 winners of prestigious international wards since the 1920's,
with topical and analytical indexes and cross references.
Poggendorff's Biografisch-Literisches Handworterbuch fur Mathematik, Astronomie, Physik mit Geophysik, Chemie, Kristallographie und verwandte Wissensgebiete ... 1863 -
Classic biographical bibliography sources, each part covering particular
time periods and nationalities. In German.
Prominent Scientists. 1980
An index to collective biographies of significant contributions
to the sciences.
Who's Who of Nobel Prize Winners. 1991
Dictionary of Nobel Prize winners arranged by prize category, then
chronologically.
Chemical Biographical Sources
General Science Biographical Sources | Chemical
Biographical Sources | Other Things to Look For
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American Chemists and Chemical Engineers. 1976
Entries have bibliographies of obituaries, and other biographical
pieces.
Chemists and Chemistry. (Series name)
Series of volumes dealing with the history of chemistry and biographies
of significant contributors to the field, including Jean Baptiste Boussingault,
Amedeo Avagadro, Frederick Soddy, and Thomas Beddes. Each volume has a
specific topic and separate record in ONLINE CATALOG. There is no series index. Search
ONLINE CATALOG using (k= chemists) and search by topic.
Great Chemists. 1961
One hundred extended articles on the most important chemists in
history.
The Nobel Lectures: Chemistry.
Articles summarize each winner's achievements, Nobel lecture, and
offer both a primary and Reproduction of the lectures given by Nobel Prize
recipients, including the motivation for awarding the prize, the presentation
address, the Nobel lecture address, and biography.
Nobel Prize Winners in Chemistry, 1901-1961.
Entries include biographical sketch, description of work, and a
section on the historical significance of the work in chemistry.
Torchbearers of Chemistry. 1949
Portraits of 250 famous chemists of the past, with brief biographical
entries.
Other Things to Look For
General Science Biographical Sources | Chemical
Biographical Sources | Other Things to Look For
| ONLINE CATALOG
Obituaries.
Prominent chemists usually receive an obituary tribute in a journal relevant to their area of research, which summarizes their career and achievements. Often these are indexed in Chemical Abstracts, but it helps to know the year of death. Look in CA's General Subject Index (in the Subject Index prior to 1972), under the person's name. General headings like "Obituaries" and "Biography" sometimes contain entries as well. Other sources not specific to the sciences list obituaries and other biographical information sources: Middleton Reference has the largest selection of these tools.
Some prominent scientists receive tribute collections of papers in book form, usually on the occasion of a birthday. These volumes invariably contain a biographical essay. Search in ONLINE CATALOG using the person's name as a subject (s=) or a keyword (k=).
Memoirs.
Some chemists publish their own reminiscences and autobiographies. Search ONLINE CATALOG using the person's name as an author or subject .
Histories.
Often you can find biographical information in histories in histories of science, chemistry, or specific subfields. Use the subheading -- History with relevant subject heading, such as:
Also, browse the shelves by call numbers QD 20's and QD 30's for
material on chemical history.
Bibliographies.
Historical listings of articles and papers written after 1907 can be compiled using the author indexes of Chemical Abstracts, but older papers can be hard to locate. Try these sources:
Select Bibliography of Chemistry 1492-1902.
Covers books published in chemistry up to 1902, divided by broad
topic area. Subject but no author index. Two supplements extend coverage
to 1902. Published as part of series: Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collection
(v.36, publication 1170, and v.44).
Chemical Abstracts. 1907 -
The premier indexing source for chemical, biochemical, and chemical
engineering literature, covering over 12,000 journals and confernces, as
well as technical reports, dissertations, books, and patents. There are
two basic parts: the weekly abstracts issues, arranged by topics (each
issue contains its own indexes), and cumulative semiannual indexes, offering
access by chemical substances name, formula, general subject, and author.
There are also Collective Indexes covering 10 - or 5 - year periods. Use
the printed flyers available in the Library to learn the basics of searching
the printed indexes.
Other parts of CA to know about:
Chemisches Zentralblatt. 1830-1969.
A German predecessor to Chemical Abstracts. Useful for identifying
the 19th century publications (written in German).
Dissertation Abstracts. 1865 -
This large retrospective database covers Ph.D. dissertations written
at U.S. universities all the way back to the Civil War. In the last few
years the name of the author's faculty advisor has been included. This
is a way to find out where a person (in any discipline) studies, and what
their early research was about.
Science Citation Index. 1961 -
This large index lists articles and books from all time periods
that have been cited by other authors during the period covered. For instance,
if a modern author cites a paper from the 19th century, that citation will
be listed under the original author's name in the Citation Index part of
SCI. This will refer you to the original citing paper.
This approach can tell you two things:
It's also a good way to identify bibliographic citations for papers
and books that predate Chemical Abstracts.
ONLINE CATALOG
General Science Biographical Sources | Chemical
Biographical Sources | Other Things to Look For
| ONLINE CATALOG
Biographies.
Use ONLINE CATALOG to locate books and journals held by the LSU Libraries on this topic. To search by subject, use established Library of Congress Subject Headings from the red volumes near the terminals. Book-length biographies of chemists are reserved for the most famous of the famous. Search in ONLINE CATALOG using the person's name as a subject or a keyword .
Relevant general headings include:
The keyword search is also useful as an alternative search
method.
Similar searches in the periodical index of the ONLINE CATALOG will help
locate journal articles on these topics.
