LibGuides: Chemists' Biographical Information: Reference Books

Guide to Reference Materials

On this page are reference materials that contain biographical information on chemists and some industrialists. Reference materials are generally quick, ready reference sources such as indexes, encyclopedias and dictionaries. The reference materials listed represent the holdings of the Othmer Library but are not inclusive of all the materials published on the subject.

Female/ Minority Chemists

Black women scientists in the United States
Q141 .W37 1999 00 Reading Room.
Biographical sketches on the women's professional career and research.
Blacks in Science and Medicine
Q141 .B58 1990 -- Reading Room.
In alphabetical order, over 1,500 black scientists are included with as much professional and biographical information as known.
Ladies in the laboratory?: American and British Women in Science, 1800-1900
Q141 .C69 1998 -- Reading Room
Biographical sketches of around 680 individuals with a bibliography of their publications.
Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science
Q141 .B5285 2000 -- Reading Room.
In alphabetical order, over 2,500 that have made an impact in science are listed.
Women in chemistry and physics: a biobibliographic sourcebook
QD21 .W66 1993 -- Reading Room.
Biographical sketches on individuals with bibliographies.
Women in chemistry: their changing roles from alchemical times to the mid-twentieth century
QD21 .R39 1998 -- Reading Room
Overview of the history of women in chemistry with biographical sketches.
Women in science: antiquity through the nineteenth century: a biographical dictionary with annotated bibliography
Q141 .O45 1986 -- Reading Room.
General history of women in science with biographical accounts of individuals.
Notable Black American Scientists
Covers 254 individuals, living and dead, with their selected writings and secondary sources. Some portraits. Gender, specialty and subject indexes.

Specialty Fields

Who's who in plastics & polymers
TP1119 .A1 H37 2000, located in Reading Room.
Arranged alphabetically with individual's educational and professional data. Includes contact information.
Who's who in technology.
T39 .W46, 5th edition 1986, located in Reading Room.
Arranged by field and alphabetically with personal, career, education, patents and publications. Fields are electronics & computer science, mechanical engineering & materials science, chemistry & plastics, civil engineering, earth sciences & energy, physics & optics, biotechnology.
Modern American Environmentalists A Biographical Encyclopedia.
GE55 .U6 C48 2009, located in Reading Room.
Biographical sketches of 139 environmentalists who made noteworthy contributions in the 20th century.
International directory of business biographies
HC29 .I47 2005, 4 volumes, located in Reading Room.
More than 600 prominent business people from large, publicly traded companies around the world.
Biographical dictionary of the history of technology
T39 .B49 1996, located in Reading Room.
About 1,300 individuals that contributed to the advancement of technology through history.

Portraiture

A.L.A. portrait index
An index to portraits contained in printed books and periodicals prior to 1906.

General/ International Biographies

Biographical encyclopedia of scientists
Q141 .B53 1994 -- Reading Room
Biographisch Literarisches Handworterbuch, Poggendorff
Z7404 .P74 -- Monograph Collection
A bio/bibliographical dictionary covering all time, internationally. It is mainly in German with some French and English. The Othmer Library has the following volumes: Band 1 and 2 covering up to 1857, Band 3 covering 1858-1883, and Band 4 covering 1883-1904.
Index to Biographical Fragments in Unspecialized Scientific Journals
Q141 .B29 1973 -- Reading Room
[Portraits are indicated. Coverage stops around 1920]
Indexes biographical material in:
American Journal of Science, 1819-1920
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1832-1920
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, 1800-1933
Nature, 1869-1918
Popular Science Monthly, 1872-1915
Philosophical Magazine, 1798-1902
Science, 1883-1919
Index to Scientists of the World from Ancient to Modern Times
Z7404 .I7 1962 -- Reading Room
This index lists Birth/ Death dates, nationality, profession and where to find a full biography and portrait. We may not have all the books that are indexed but we should be able to locate items elsewhere.
Notable twentieth-century scientists
Q141 .N73 1995 -- Reading Room
Supplemented
Prominent scientists : an index to collective biographies
Q141 .P45 1980 -- Reading Room
World who's who in science : a biographical dictionary of notable scientists from antiquity to the present
Q141 .W67 1968 -- Reading Room
Brief biographical data for about 30,000 scientists, living and dead.
Biographical index to American science : the seventeenth century to 1920
Q141 .E56 1990 -- Reading Room

American Chemists

American Men of Science
Q141 .A47, located in Reading Room. Editions: 1910, 1921, 1933, 1938, 1944, 1949, 1955, 1960, 1965
A biographical encyclopedia that is published every few years, only carries contemporary scientists of the published year. Especially strong in academics, provides birth date and place, education, place of work, research specialties and address.
American Men and Women of Science
Q141 .A47, located in Reading Room. Editions: 1971, 1976, 1979, 1982, 1986, 1989, 1992, 1995, 1998, 2003, 2005....
A continuation of American Men of Science with the addition of professional women.
Biographical Dictionary of American Science: the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries
Q141 .E55 1979, located in Reading Room.
This Biographical Dictionary is sort of a prequel to American Men of Science; it is a retrospective look at the American scientists that came before AMS was first published. It is organized in alphabetical order.
Biographical Memoirs, National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Q141 .N529, located in Reading Room. Editions: v.24 1947- v.78 2000, incomplete holdings.
Biographies on deceased members of the National Academy of Sciences. Check the index in the back of each volume to find the person you are searching.
American Chemical Industry: A History
TP23 .H39 1954, located in Reading Room.
This is a great resource on men involved in the industry side of chemistry especially in the booming times of the late 19th to early 20th century. There is a Name Index at the back of each volume. There is not set biographical information on every person mentioned, but this can be used to put the individual in context of the industry overall, as well as give leads on where to look for more information by providing company and geographical information.

European Chemists

Who's who in science in Europe.
Q141. .W59, 1st-7th editions, located in Reading Room.
Individuals listed alphabetically. Educational and professional data provided.
Dictionary of nineteenth-century British scientists
Q141 .D48 2004, 4volumes located in Reading Room.
1260 individuals listed alphabetically with biographical data and summary of contributions to science.
Biographical memoirs of fellows of the Royal Society.
Q41 .R67, volumes 1-59 1955-2013, located in Reading Room.
Obituaries of Royal Society members. Earlier memoirs were published under different titles, check here for dates and titles: http://rsbm.royalsocietypublishing.org/site/misc/about.xhtml
Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie
CT1053 .B39 1875, volumes 1-54, located in Reading Room.
Language: German. Biographies of scientists who died before 1900 and in their time in a Germanic location.