History of Science and Technology

This guide suggests resources for locating information and materials on the history of science and technology.

Contents of this research guide

Background Information  |  Find Articles  |  Find Books  |  People  |  Organizations  |  Web Resources

Background Information (Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, and Bibliographies)

Encyclopedias and other reference works are an excellent place to start a research project or simply learn more about a particular topic.  They provide topic summaries, context, and bibliographies for further reading.

Applebaum, Wilbur (ed.) Encyclopedia of the scientific revolution: from copernicus to newton  R 509.403  En 197 

Bud, Robert (ed.) Instruments of science: an historical encyclopedia R 502.84  In 7

Burns, William E. Science in the enlightenment: an encyclopedia. R 509.03  B9379s 

Bynum, W. F. (ed.) Dictionary of the history of science. R 509  D561

Frengren, Gary (ed.) The history of science and religion in the western tradition: an encyclopedia  R 291.175  H62979

Good, Gregory (ed.) Sciences of the earth: an encyclopedia of events, people, and phenomena  R 550.9  Sci 277  (2 volumes)

Lankford, John  History of astronomy: an encyclopedia  R 520.3  H629

Rothenburg, Marc  History of science and technology in the united states: a critical and selective bibliography  509.73  R743h

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Find Articles

Search indexes, abstracts, and databases to find journal, magazine, and newspaper articles.  For a complete list of Kent Library's online indexes and databases, see the Find: articles page.

To find historical/source materials, use the following print sources:

American Historical Review, 1995 (located in the Indexes/Abstracts area, main floor)

Book Review Digest, 1905+ (located in the Indexes/Abstracts area,main floor)

Index to Book Reviews in the Humanities, 1961 1990 (located in the Indexes/Abstracts area, main floor)

New York Times Book Review Index, 1876 1970 (located in the Indexes/Abstracts area, main floor)

New York Times Index, 1851+ (located in the Indexes/Abstracts area, main floor)

Readers Guide to Periodical Literature, 1900+  (located in the Indexes/Abstracts area, main floor)

To find recent articles and scholarly/peer-reviewed articles use the following online databases:

Academic Search Premier (EBSCOHost)

America History & Life (ABC-CLIO)

American Memory (Library of Congress)

Article 1^st (FirstSearch)

Encyclopedia Britannica (Britannica)

Historical Abstracts (ABC-CLIO)

Jstor  (Jstor)

Masterfile Premier  (EBSCOHost)

Project Muse  (Johns Hopkins University Press)

Proquest Research Library + Newspapers  (PROQUEST)

Wilson Omnifile  (H.W. Wilson)

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Find Books

Use the Kent Library Catalog  to find books, periodicals (journals, magazines, & newspapers), videos, government documents and other materials.

Keyword searches allow you to use your own words as search terms.

Subject heading searches use Library of Congress subject headings. Printed volumes of these headings are located near the Reference Desk on the main floor.  The history of science is not a subject heading.  One may use the following:

Science History
Technology History

These headings may also be subdivided as in:

Science History Encyclopedias
Technology History United States

Browse the shelves by call number.  Use the Dewey Decimal chart (http://library.semo.edu/learn/guides/dewey100.shtml) to get you in the right subject areas.  Some titles with Dewey numbers are listed below.

Asimov, Issac  Adding a dimension; seventeen essays on the history of science  508.1  As42a

Asimov, Issac  Asimovs chronology of science and discovery  509 As42c

Clagett, Marshall (ed) Critical problems in the history of science; proceedings institute for the history of science university of wisconsin  509 In7c

Fang, Lizhi From newtons laws to einsteins theory of relativity  530.11 F214f 

Gillispie, Charles Coulson  The edge of objectivity; an essay in the history of scientific ideas  509 G412e

Hall, A. Rupert  A brief history of science  509 H14b

Hall, A. Rupert  From galileo to newton 509 H14f 1981

Hogben, Lancelot  The beginnings of science  509 H679b

MacLachlan, James  Children of prometheus: a history of science and technology  509 M22c 1989

Parkinson, Claire Breakthroughs: a chronology of great achievements in science and mathematics, 1200 1930  509 P229b

Silver, Brian L The ascent of science  303.483 Si39a

Waller, John  Einsteins luck: the truth behind some of the greatest scientific discoveries  509 W1566e

Webster, Charles  From paracelsus to newton: magic and the making of modern science  509.031  W392f

Westaway, F. W.  The endless quest: three thousand years of science  509 W521

Westfall, Richard  The construction of modern science: mechanisms and mechanics  531.09032  W526c

Wilson, Mitchell  American science and invention: a pictorial history  509  W695a

Woolf, Harry (ed) The analytic spirit : essays in the history of science in honor of Henry Guerlac  509 An13

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People

Learn about important people, such as authors, researchers & historical figures related to this topic or field.

Delmann, Howard B  Marcello malpighi and the evolution of embroyology   Q 591. 33  Ad33m (5 volumes)

Anderson, Margaret Jean  Carl  linnaeus: father of classification Y 925.8 L649a

Bolton, Sarah Knowles  Famous men of science 920 B639

Bowler, Peter J  Charles darwin: the man and his influence  575.0092 D259b

Folsing, Albrecht  Albert einstein: a biography  530.092 Ei68f

Geiser, Samuel Wood  Naturalists of the frontier  925.9 G278

Gillispie, Charles Coulson (ed) Dictionary of scientific biography R 925 D561

Gribbin, John R  The scientists: a history of science told through the lives of its greatest inventors  509.22  G8711s

Henig, Robin Marantz  The monk in the garden: the lost and found genius of gregor mendel, the father of genetics  576.5092 M5222h

Holmes, Frederic Lawrence  Lavoisier and the chemistry of life: an exploration of scientific creativity  574.1920924  L395h

Keyes, Richard Darwin  The beagle record: selections from the original pictorial records and written accounts of the voyage of h.m.s. beagle  500.98  B359

Olby, Robert C  Early nineteenth century european scientists  509.22  Ol1e

Wilson, Leonard G  Charles lyell, the years to 1841: the revolution in geology  551. 0924  W695c

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Organizations

Professional organizations and/or societies often provide very useful topic related information.

Charles Babbage Institute: Center for the History of Information Technology (http://www.cbi.umn.edu/)

History of Science Society
(http://www.hssonline.org/)

Institute for Science and Interdisciplinary Studies
(http://isis.hampshire.edu)

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Web Resources

Center for History of Physics American Institute of Physics
(http://www.Aip.org/history/)

Epact: Scientific Instruments of Medieval and Renaissance Europe
(http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/epact/)

Internet History of Science Sourcebook
(http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sciences/sciencesbook.html)

Jesuits and the Sciences: 1540 1995
(http://www.luc.edu/about/jesuits/jessci.htm)

Museum of the History of Science, University of Oxford
(http://mhs.ox.ac.uk/index.htm)

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last updated: 4/20/09 06/24/09