Random House Webster's

Any modern work of science is in turn based on the work of many thousands of scientists. If one considers that the work that these scientists (and other researchers) produced is in turn based on the work of a great number of other researchers, then the number of individuals that contributed to the rational base for a scientific work, is truly an impressive figure. The reference section usually only effectively credits only a small percentage of these workers, with a bias somewhat towards those researchers published in the most widely available and recent journals. This reference, the Random House Webster's Dictionary of Scientists, like other works of this nature, provides a more comprehensive coverage of different scientists' works. But again, even with its 1800 biographies, it too covers only a small percentage of the workers that contributed to mankind's scientific knowledge at the time of this reference. I did not read this reference from cover to cover but found it useful as a handy, compact reference on the life and works of various scientists. As well, it includes brief introductory essays on history of the development of Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Engineering and Technology, Geology, Mathematics and Physics, as well as chronologies for various fields, and listing of the Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Physics Nobel Prizes and the Fields (mathematics) Medals.