The Hutchinson dictionary of scientific biography - Roy Porter

This dictionary provides an authoritative and accessible guide to the lives, labours and achievements of the men and women who have shaped the world of science. The in-depth biographies are comprehensive in their coverage of scientists and provide a wealth of information about the great scientists and their idiosyncrasies - for example, the effect of Humphrey Davy's jealousy of his former protege Michael Faraday, the prejudice against women that barred Lize Meitner from working in a major laboratory, and why the astronomer Tycho Brahe wore a false nose.;The dictionary covers all of the major scientists and provides readable reviews of each scientist's early life, career, major discoveries and significant publications. This edition has been updated to include over 80 more biographies, focusing particularly on contemporary scientists, such as Stanley Prusiner, the US winner of the 1997 Nobel Prize of Physiology or Medicine. In addition, a glossary of 2000 terms and chronologies of the major sciences place individual's achievements within the context of their own time, while offering an overview of the growth of each particular field of scientific enquiry.