The Cambridge Dictionary of Scientists

This volume is an invaluable one-stop reference book for anyone wanting a brief and accurate account of the life and work of those who created science from its beginnings to the present day. The alphabetically organized, illustrated biographical dictionary has been thoroughly revised and updated, covering over 1,500 key scientists (157 more than in the previous edition) from 40 countries. Physics, chemistry, biology, geology, astronomy, mathematics, medicine, meteorology and technology are all represented and special attention is paid to pioneer women whose achievements and example opened the way to scientific careers for others. This new edition includes recent Nobel laureates, as well as winners of the Fields Medal, the mathematician's equivalent of the Nobel Prize. Illustrated with around 150 portraits, diagrams, maps and tables, and with special panel features, this book is an accessible guide to the world's prominent scientific personalities. David Millar has carried out research into the flow of polar ice sheets at the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge, and in Antarctica. He has also written on a range of science and technology topics, and edited a study of the politics of the Antarctic. His professional career has been spent in the oil industry, principally in the marketing of geoscience software. He lives in France. John Millar graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge, and has a doctorate from Imperial College, London. He worked for BP developing new geophysical methods for use in oil exploration and production. In 1994 he co-founded GroundFlow Ltd., which has developed electrokinetic surveying and logging as a new technique for imaging and mapping fluids in subsurface porous rocks.

An alphabetically organized, illustrated biographical dictionary covering the work of over 1500 key scientists from 40 countries.

Library Journal

Covering 1300 scientists (including more than 70 pioneering female scientists) from 38 countries, this work builds on the authors' Concise Dictionary of Scientists (Chambers/Cambridge Univ., 1989), now out of print. Older articles have been revised, updated, and expanded for the new edition. Accompanied by numerous illusrations, the biographical entries are well written and seem complete, focusing on scientists in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, geology, astronomy, mathematics, medicine, meteorology, and technology. Another special feature is found in the 32 panels, which give concise histories of selected subjects ranging from "The Exploration of Space" to "Science and the First World War (1914-1918)" to "Human Inherited Disease and the Human Genome Project." The volume also includes a chronology of science, an index to Nobel prize winners, and a nicely detailed subject index. Recommended for both academic and public library science reference collections.Hilary Burton, Lawrence Livermore National Lab., Livermore, Cal.