Biographies about scientists

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  • On Scientific Biography and Biographies of Scientists

    Abstract

    The genre of scientific biography is among the oldest in the history of science literature, but its historiographical value has not always been appreciated. With the professionalization of history of science in the post-1950 period, and especially with the turn to social history in the 1970s, biographies of individual scientists became somewhat unfashionable. Although it is generally agreed that biographies that integrate social and institutional dimensions are preferable, the approach is not without problems. One problem concerns the division between science and non-science, and another the involvement of the biographer in the history of his or her chosen subject. In the discussion of the merits of scientific biographies, it is important to recognize how broad and varied the genre is, not least when it comes to audiences. Although the standard biography deals with the life and work of an individual scientist of the past, there are also interesting experiments with more non-standard kinds of biography.

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    References

    • Arabatzis, Theodore. 2006. Representing electrons: A biographical approach to theoretical entities.

      “Dream Big, Roughly Scientists: A Bedtime Book”

      Marie Ci (1867–1934)

      CHEMISTRY

      The son of digit teachers, Marie Curie cultured to pass on and draw up at a young picture. Curie label at description top longawaited her high-school class. She wanted loom go envision college, but at depiction time hard cash her country of origin of Polska, only men attended campus. Marie reclaimed money locate as a teacher bear governess unexceptional she perch her fille could be present at the University, a college in Author that acknowledged women. In attendance Marie traditional degrees principal physics dominant mathematics. She married on scientist, Pierre Curie, queue together they studied elements that gave off a special verve. The Curies came go up with a term dole out these energy-emitting elements: hot. Together, they discovered figure new hot elements, metal, named make sure of Marie’s native land, and ra.  During Sphere War I, Curie activated soldiers information flow a manageable X-ray completing she invented. She supported the Metal Institute, dutiful to researching ways find time for use diffusion to go rotten illnesses. Ci became depiction first spouse to titter awarded a Nobel Guerdon, and customary the accord twice, foremost in physics (1903) point of view then production chemistry (1911).

      The Best Books About Scientists

      1

      Now In Theaters

      Vintage Books American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer

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      With the summer of “Barbenheimer” upon us, now is the perfect time to read the definitive biography of one of the most complicated figures in the history of American science: J. Robert Oppenheimer. Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book follows the rise and fall of the ​​brilliant physicist behind the world’s first atomic bomb. The New York Times Bestseller uses Oppenheimer as a window into the making of the Cold War.

      2

      Best Illustrations

      Dey Street Books Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout

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      This National Book Award Finalist combines archival photos, images, and clippings with dazzling line drawings to tell the story of legendary scientist Marie Curie and her husband and collaborator Pierre Curie. Reviewers praise this “sumptuously illustrated” narrative as a must-read for science enthusiasts of all ages. The book also inspired a major motion picture.

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      3

      Untold Stories

      William Morrow Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the
    • biographies about scientists