Additional Biographical Sources
- SCIENCE (General): Biography
- National/regional Focus
Asimov, I. 1982. Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. The Lives and Achievements of 1510 Great Scientists from Ancient Times to the Present, Chronologically Arranged. 2nd ed. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 941 pp.
Baigrie, B. S. 2001. The Renaissance and the scientific revolution: biographical portraits. NY: Charles Scribner, 210 pp. Not at Harvard
Baker, C., ed. 2002. Absolutism and the Scientific Revolution, 1600-1720: a biographical dictionary. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 450 pp.
Chinn, P. Z. 1988. Women in Science and Mathematics: Bibliography. Rev. ed. Arcata, CA: distributed by Humboldt State University Foundation, 77 pp. Harvard has 1st ed. only, 1979, 38 pp.
Haines, C. M. C. and H. M. Stevens. 2001. International women in science: a biographical dictionary to 1950. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 383 pp.
Herzenberg, C. L. 1986. Women Scientists from Antiquity to the Present: An Index. West Cornwall, CT: Locust Hill Press, 200 pp.
Howsam, Leslie. 1997. Scientists since 1660: A Bibliography of Biographies. Aldershot, UK; Brookfield, VT: Scolar Press, 150 pp.
Hoyrup, E. 1987. Women of Science, Technology, and Medicine: A Bibliography. (Skriftserie fra Roskilde Universitetsbibliotek 15) Roskilde, Denmark: Roskilde University Library, 132 pp.
Jayawardene, S. A. & J. Lawes. 1979. Biographical notices of historians of science: a checklist. Annals of Science 36(4): 315-494.
Jöcher, C. G. 1750-51. Allgemeines Gelehrten-Lexicon. Leipzig, 4 v.
--Reprint, Hildesheim: G. Olms.
Adelung, J. C. et al. 1784-1897. Fortsetzung und Ergänzungen. Leipzig. 7 v. Reprint, Hildesheim: G. Olms. [A - Romuleus]
Krafft, F., ed. 1986. Grosse Naturwissenschaftler: Biographisches Lexikon: mit einer Bibliographie zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften. 2nd ed. Dusseldorf: VDI, 456 pp. [Bio-bibliography of the history of science & technology]
McGraw-Hill Modern Scientists and Engineers. 3 v. NY: McGraw-Hill, 1980.
McGrayne, S. B. 1998. Nobel Prize Women in Science: Their Lives, Struggles, and Momentous Discoveries. 2nd ed. Secaucus, NJ: Carol Pub. Group, 451 pp.
15 women Nobel laureates with portraits and bibliographies of secondary works. J. B. Burnell, G. R. Cori, M. S. Curie, G. Elion, R. Franklin, D. C. Hodgkin, I. Joliot-Curie, R. Levi-Montalcini, B. McClintock, M. G. Mayer, L. Meitner, E. Noether, C. Nüsslein-Volhard, C.-S. Wu, R. S. Yalow.
Millar, D. et al. 1989. Chambers Concise Dictionary of Scientists. Edinburgh: Chambers, 461 pp.
Millar, D. et al. 1996. The Cambridge Dictionary of Scientists. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 387 pp.
About 1300 entries; includes living scientists; index includes subjects; no portraits; chronology, pp. 352-365; list of Nobel prizewinners, pp. 366-369.Revised and augmented edition of Millar, D. et al. 1989. Chambers Concise Dictionary of Scientists. Edinburgh: Chambers, 461 pp.
Includes living scientists; index includes subjects; portraits for many of the scientists included; chronology, pp. 427-435; list of Nobel prizewinners, pp. 421-424.
Muir, H., ed. 1994. Larousse Dictionary of Scientists. Edinburgh: Larousse, 595 pp.
Includes living scientists. Index includes subjects. No portraits. List of Nobel prizewinners, pp. 573-576.
Nordin-Pettersson, B. S. 1971. Vetenskapsakademiens konstsamlingar: Förteckning över porträtt, medaljer och överiga konstföremal. (Bidrag till Kungl. Svenska vetenskapsakademiens historia 10) Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksel, 119 pp. [Catalog of portraits and portrait medallians with biographical data]
Ogilvie, M. B. 1986. Women in Science: Antiquity through the Nineteenth Century: A Biographical Dictionary with Annotated Bibliography. Cambridge: MIT Press, 254 pp.
Pais, A. 2000. The Genius of Science: A Portrait Gallery. Oxford; NY: Oxford University Press, 356 pp.
- Niels Bohr
- Max Born
- Paul Dirac
- Albert Einstein
- Mitchell Feigenbaum
- Res Jost
- Oskar Klein
- Hendrik Kramers
- Tsung Dao Lee
- John Von Neumann
- Wolfgang Pauli
- Isidor I. Rabi
- Robert Serber
- George Uhlenbeck
- Viktor Weisskopf
- Eugene Wigner
- Chen Ning Yang
Porter, R. and M. Ogilvie, eds. 2000. The Hutchinson Dictionary of Scientific Biography. 3rd ed. 2 v. Oxford: Helicon.
--Published in the U. S. as:
The Biographical Dictionary of Scientists. 3rd ed. 2 v. NY: Oxford University Press, 2000. --Appendices: Scientific Discoveries (discovery, date, discoverer, nationality), pp. 1013-1016; chronologies of Nobel prize winners, pp. 1017-1026, and Fields medalists, p. 1027; chronologies of astronomy, biology, chemistry, earth science, engineering and technology, mathematics, physics, pp. 1028-1056; glossary, pp. 1059-1043; index. Previous ed.: 1994.
--1st edition appeared as: Abbott, D., ed. 1984-85. The Biographical Dictionary of Scientists. Mathematicians, Astronomers, Physicists, Chemists, Biologists, and Engineers and Inventors. 6 v. Also listed under disciplines.
Poulle, E. & R. Halleux, eds. 1993. Directory/Annuaire. International Academy of the History of Science. Archives Internationales d'Histoire des Sciences, v. 43, no. 130, pp. 1-194.
--Section on deceased members (pp. 139-192) includes references to obituaries.
Pycior, H. M., N. G. Slack, and P. G. Abir-Am, eds. 1996. Creative Couples in the Sciences. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 369 pp.
Pierre Curie and Mme Curie | Iréne and Frédéric Joliot-Curie | Carl and Gerty Cori | John and Elizabeth Gould | Margaret and William Huggins | Comstocks of Cornell | Grace Chisolm Young and William Henry Young | the Berkleys in marine biology and the Hoggs in astronomy | Freida Cobb Blanchard and Frank Nelson Blanchard | Kathleen and Thomas Lonsdale
Riedl, J. O., ed. 1940. A Catalogue of Renaissance Philosophers (1350-1650). Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University Press, 179 pp. Reprint, Hildesheim, NY: G. Olms, 1973.
Robinson, N. 1980. The Royal Society Catalogue of Portraits. London: Royal Society, 343 pp.
Sammons, V. O. 1990. Blacks in Science and Medicine. NY: Hemisphere, 293 pp.
Shearer, B. F. & B. S. Shearer, eds. 1997. Notable Women in the Physical Sciences: A Biographical Dictionary. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 479 pp.
--96 biographical sketches, mainly, but not exclusively, Americans.
Sherby, L. S., ed. 2002. The Who's Who of Nobel Prize Winners, 1901-2000. 4th ed. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press, 277 pp.
Simonis, D. A. 1999. Scientists, Mathematicians, and Inventors: Lives and Legacies: An Encyclopedia of People who Changed the World. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press, 244 p.
200 individuals with some emphasis on women and minorities. Stress on context and influence of each subject's work. Appendices include a chronology and lists of biographees by country and by discipline.
Simmons, J. G. 1996. The Scientific 100: a Ranking of the most Influential Scientists, Past and Present. Secaucus, NJ: Carol Pub. Group, 504 pp.
Smith, R. 1998. Biographies of Scientists: An Annotated Bibliography. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 291 pp.
List of biographical dictionaries and other multi-scientist biographical works and of book-length biographies of individual scientists. Each reference has a roughly 100-150 word summary. Grouped by discipline.
Wasson, T., ed. 1987. Nobel Prize Winners: An H. W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary. NY: H. W. Wilson, 1165 pp.
Weisbard, P. H. & R. Apple, eds. 1993. The History of Women and Science, Health, and Technology: A Bibliographic Guide to the Professions and the Disciplines. 2nd ed. Madison: University of Wisconsin System Women's Studies Librarian, 100 pp. Also in: Women's Resources International [CD-ROM]. 1996. Baltimore, MD: National Information Services Corp.
Online Version
Who's Who in Theology and Science: An International Biographical and Bibliographical Guide to Individuals and Organizations Interested in the Interaction of Theology and Science. NY: Continuum, 1996, 713 pp.
Two sections: people with publications, people with general interest. Name, geography, subject indexes. Brief biographical data and bibliographies. Includes some historians.
Wells, E. B. 1983. Scientists' libraries: A handlist of printed sources. Annals of Science, 40(4): 317-389.
Williams, T. I., ed. 1994. Collins Biographical Dictionary of Scientists. 4th ed. Glasgow: HarperCollins, 602 pp. [Includes medicine and technology]
Yeo, R. 1996. Alphabetical lives: scientific biography in historical dictionaries and encyclopedias. Pp. 139-169 in Telling Lives in Science: Essays on Scientific Biography, ed. by M. Shortland and R. Yeo. Cambridge; NY: Cambridge University Press, 295 pp.
Describes the treatment of scientific biography in reference works through the early 19th century.
Yount, L. 2008. A to Z of Women in Science and Math. NY: Facts on File, 368 pp.
Science (General): Biography - National/regional focus
Bright Sparcs (within Encyclopedia of Australian Science): A register of people involved in the development of science, technology, engineering and medicine in Australia, including references to their archival materials and bibliographic resources.
--Register of more than 3,000 people in science, medicine, and technology in Australia, with bibliographies and locations of their personal papers.
Chattopadhyay, A. 1995. Encyclopaedia of Indian Scientists (From Ancient to Contemporary). New Delhi: Reliance Publishing House, 272 pp. Not at Harvard
Dehergne, J. 1973. Repertoire des Jesuites de Chine de 1552 a 1800. (Bibliotheca Instituti Historici S.I., 37). Rome: Institutum Historicum S.I.; Paris: Letouzey & Ané, 430 pp. + pls.
Compendium of biographical information, with references. Also includes a list of Jesuit accomplishments, list of heads of the Board of Astronomy, a chronology, etc.
Indian National Science Academy. 1994. Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy, 1935-1993: Biographical Notes. 2nd ed. 2 vols. New Delhi: The Academy, 1994.
Karimullah and A. R. Ghani. 1989. Biographical Notes on Eminent Muslim Scientists of South-Asia in the 14th century Hijra. Vol. 1. Islamabad: Pakistan Science Foundation and Pakistan Academy of Sciences, 131 pp.
Volume 1: 1877-1979. 6 scientists. Includes lists of primary sources.
Pfister, L. 1976. Notices biographiques et bibliographiques sur les jesuites de l'ancienne mission de Chine, 1552-1773. 2 v. in 1. San Francisco: Chinese Materials Center (Reprint series, no. 57), 1108 pp. Reprint of the 1932-34 ed. published by Impr. de la Mission catholique, Shanghai, which was issued as no. 59-60 of Variétés sinologiques.
Charle, C. 1989. Les professeurs de la Faculte des sciences de Paris: dictionnaire biographique (1901-1939). (Collection "Histoire biographique de l'enseignement") Paris: Institut national de recherche pedagogique: Editions du CNRS, 270 pp.
Diccionario historico das ciencias e das tecnicas de Galicia: autores, 1868-1936. Historia das ciencias e das tecnicas en Galicia, Grupo Interdisciplinar de Traballo "R.M. Aller" Galicia: Seminario de Estudos Galegos, 1993. 355 pp. 121 biographical sketches
Fierro, Alfred. 1986. Sciences exactes, humaines et sociales. Pp. 173-182 in Bibliographie analytique des biographies collectives imprimees de la France contemporaine (1789-1985). (Bibliotheque de l'Ecole des hautes etudes. IVe section, Sciences historiques et philologiques, t. 330). Paris: Champion. Additional copy
Fueter, E., ed. 1941. Grosse Schweizer Forscher. 2nd ed. Zurich: Atlantis verlag, 340 pp.
About 130 biographies, with portraits, of Swiss scholars and scientists. Includes chronological and subjects lists.
Index biographique de l'Academie des Sciences du 22 decembre 1666 au 1er octobre 1978. Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1979, 513 pp.
Jaussaud, P. 1998. Pharmaciens au Muséum: chimistes et naturalistes. (Archives, Muséum national d'histoire naturelle). Paris: Editions du Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, 259 pp.
Occupants of chairs of pharmacy and chemistry (although not necessarily pharmacists or chemists) at the Jardin des Plantes, with portraits.
Jessen, J. C. 1989. Bibliographie der Autobiographien. Bd. 3. Selbstzeugnisse, Erinnerungen, Tagebücher und Briefe deutscher Mathematiker, Naturwissenschaftler und Techniker. Munchen; NY: K. G. Saur, 371 pp.
Meisen, V. 1932. Prominent Danish Scientists through the Ages. Copenhagen: Levin & Munksgaard, 193 pp.
Mieli, A. 1921-23. Gli scienziati italiani dall'inizio del medio evo al nostri giorni. Repertorio biobibliografico. 2 v. Rome: Dott. Attilio Nardecchias.
Ridolfi, R., ed. 1976. Biografie e bibliografie degli accademici lincei. Rome: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, 1319 pp.
Schweizerische Naturforschende Gesellschaft. Bibliographie: Verhandlungen, Nekrologie, Denkschriften 1817/1930- . Bern: Büchler, 1934- . [Contains bio-bibliographies and obituaries of Swiss scientists]
Strohmeier, R. 1998. Lexikon der Naturwissenschaftlerinnen und naturkundigen Frauen Europas: von der Antike bis zum 20. Jahrhunderts. Thun: Verlag H. Deutsch, 326 pp. [Includes scientists, healers and midwives.]
Turkevich, J. & L. B. Turkevich. 1968. Prominent Scientists of Continental Europe. NY: American Elsevier, 204 pp. [Living scientists]
Van Berkel, K., A. van Helden, and L. Palm, eds. 1999. A History of Science in the Netherlands: Survey, Themes, and Reference. Leiden: Brill, 659 pp.
Includes 65 biographies (pp. 407-611) which include lists of primary and secondary works, and a bibliography: Literature on the History of Science, Medicine and Technology as an Academic Discipline in the Netherlands (pp. 631-643).
Wiedmann, H.-R. 1989. Briefe grosser Naturforscher und Arzte in Handschriften: mit Textabdruck und Portrats der Autoren. Lubeck: Verlag Graphische Werkstatten, 445 pp.
Handwriting samples and portraits of 82 German scientists and physicians 17th through 20th centuries.
Bogoliubov, A. N. 1983. Matematiki mekhaniki: biograficheskii spravochnik. Kiev: Nauk. dumka, 637 pp. [Mathematicians & physicists]
Sokolovskaia, Z. K. 1988. 400 biografii uchenykh: o serii "Nauchno-biograficheskaia literatura", 1959-1986: biobibliograficheski spravochnik. Moscow: "Nauka," 509 pp.
Turkevich, J. 1963. Soviet Men of Science: Academicians and Corresponding Members of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 441 pp.
Virtual Guide to the History of Russian Science and Technology
Hall, A. R. 1966. The Abbey Scientists. London: R. & R. Nicholson, 72 pp.
Portraits and memorials of 56 scientists in Westminster Abbey.
Hunter, M. 1982. Catalogue of fellows, 1660-1700. Pp. 133-233 in his The Royal Society and its Fellows, 1660-1700: The Morphology of an Early Scientific Institution. Chalfont St. Giles, Bucks: British Society for the History of Science, 270 pp.
Very brief biographical data, date elected, proposer.
List of Fellows of the Royal Society 1660-1998: A Complete Listing of all Fellows and Foreign Members since the Foundation of the Society, Taken from the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Archive Resource. London: Royal Society (Great Britain), 1999, 180 pp.
Mollan, R., W. Davis & B. Finucane, eds. 1985. Some People and Places in Irish Science and Technology. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 107 pp. With portraits.
Mollan, R., W. Davis & B. Finucane, eds. 1990. More People and Places in Irish Science and Technology. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 107 pp.
Pyle, A., ed. 2000. The Dictionary of Seventeenth-Century British Philosophers. 2 v. Bristol, England; Sterling, VA: Thoemmes.
Royal Society (Great Britain). 1905. Obituaries of Deceased Fellows Chiefly for the Period 1898-1904 with a General Index to Previous Obituary Notices Contained in the Proceedings, vols. X to LXIV, 1860-1899. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London., vol. 75, pts. 1-4, , 381 pp.
Includes articles reprinted from the Year-book of the Society, 1900, 1901. Obituaries in the Proceedings prior to 1932 are indexed in E. S. Barr's An Index to Biographical Fragments in Unspecialized Scientific Journals (1973).
Royal Society Obituaries and Memoirs 1830-1998: A Complete Listing of the Obituaries, Obituary Notices and Biographical Memoirs Published by the Royal Society, Taken from the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Archive Resource. London: Royal Society (Great Britain), 1999, 55 pp.
Title varies in different editions.
An African-American Bibliography: Science, Medicine, and Allied Fields, Selected Sources from the Collections of the New York State Library. Albany, NY: NY State Education Dept. 1991, 14 pp. Not at Harvard
Bailey, M. J. 1994. American Women in Science: A Biographical Dictionary. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-Clio, 463 pp.
Bailey, M. J. 1998. American Women in Science: 1950 to the Present: A Biographical Dictionary. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 455 pp.
Covers scientists born after about 1920, Includes 1-1.5 page biographies, about 50 with portraits. Entries include references to further biographical sources. More social scientists are included than in vol. 1. A few individiuals omitted from vol. 1 are included. Subject index.
Bell, W. J., Jr. 1955. Fifty early American scientists: Selected bibliographies. Pp. 45-77 in Early American Science: Needs and Opportunitues for Study. Williamsburg, VA: Institute of Early American History and Culture.
Bell, W. J., Jr. 1997, 1999. Patriot-Improvers: Biographical Sketches of Members of the American Philosophical Society. V. 1: 1743-1768; v. 2; 1. Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, v. 226, 531 pp.
2-18 page articles, footnoted, with portraits.
Daniels, G. 1968. Biographical and bibliographical sketches of fifty-five leading American scientists of the period 1815-1845. Appendix 1 (pp. 201-228) in his American Science in the Age of Jackson. NY: Columbia University Press, 282 pp.
Elliott, C. A. 1990. Collective lives of American scientists: An introductory essay and a bibliography. Pp. 81-104 in Beyond History of Science: Essays in Honor of Robert E. Schofield. Ed. by E. Garber. Bethlehem, PA: Lehigh University Press.
Gallop, N. 1993. Science is Women's Work: Photos and Biographies of American Women in the Sciences. Windsor, CA: National Women's History Project, 55 pp. Not at Harvard
26 women, Maria Mitchell (1818-89) to the present.
Geiser, S. W. 1958-59. Men of science in Texas, 1820-1880. Field and Laboratory, v. 26, no. 3/4, pp. 86-139; v. 27, no. 1, pp. 20-48; v. 27, no. 2, pp. 81-96; v. 27, no. 3, pp. 111-160; v. 27, no. 4, pp. 163-256.
Brief biographical notes on 1060 Texas scientists. Geiser published several earlier versions of this work, including one in his Naturalists of the Frontier (1948), but this is its final version. See also the many papers on Texas ornithologists by S. D. Casto in the Bulletin of the Texas Ornithological Society (1972-99).
Guralnick, S. M. 1975. Biographies of science professors. Appendix V (pp. 167-221) in Science and the Ante-bellum American College. Philadelphia, PA: American Philosophical Society (Memoir 109).
Haber, L. 1970. Black Pioneers of Science and Invention. NY: Harcourt, Brace & World, 181 pp.
Jenkins, E. S. et al. 1996. To Fathom More: African American Scientists and Inventors. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 399 pp.
- Benjamin Banneker
- George Washington Carver
- Charles R. Drew
- Shirley A. Jackson
- Frederick McKinley Jones
- Percy L. Julian
- Ernest E. Just
- Reatha C. King
- Lewis Howard Latimer
- Elijah McCoy
- Garrett Morgan
- Leon Roddy
- Charles Turner
- Daniel Hale Williams
- Granville T. Woods
- Jane C. Wright
- Louis Tompkins Wright
Klein, A. E. 1971. The Hidden Contributors: Black Scientists and Inventors in America. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 203 pp.
Reynolds, M. D. 1999. American Women Scientists: 23 Inspiring Biographies, 1900-2000. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 149 pp.
Siegel, P. J. & K. T. Finley. 1985. Women in the Scientific Search: An American Bio-bibliography, 1724-1979. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow, 399 pp.
Stuckey, R. L. 1970. Index to biographical sketches and obituaries in publications of the Ohio Academy of Science, 1900-1970. Ohio Journal of Science, v. 70, pp. 246-255.
Warren, W. 1999. Black Women Scientists in the United States. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 366 pp.
About 100 living and deceased individuals. Includes secondary sources and (pp.297-339) citations of their own publications. Some with portraits.
Who Was Who in American History: Science and Technology. Chicago: Marquis, 1976, 688 pp.
Brief data on deceased American scientists formerly listed in Who's Who in America. Same information available in Who Was Who in America. Not at Harvard