Chemical History, Biography, Directories, and Industry Sources
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Contents |
Introduction
How do you find an address of a known chemist or chemical manufacturer? Who can supply a chemical in a needed quantity? How can you improve your chances of finding a job in chemistry? Answers to these and related questions can be found in the sources discussed below.
Historical Information
Sarton's A Guide to the History of Science, published in 1952, is the standard printed work in the field. On the Web is Doug Stewart's History of Science/Science Studies Reference Sources bibliography. The second edition of Milestones in Science and Technology (1994) is subtitled "The Ready Reference Guide to Discoveries, Inventions, and Facts."
For chemistry, Sturchio's The History of Chemistry: A Critical Bibliography (1985) provides excellent coverage, but more recent (1994) is the Bibliography on the History of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, 17th to the 19th Century, edited by Valentin Wehefritz. The 1998 revision of the Chemical Heritage Foundation's Introducing the Chemical Sciences is an introductory guide designed particularly for teachers and their students. For a timeline of the major events that have shaped chemical science, see the German-language work Chronologie Chemie by Sieghard Neufeldt. In that work, the most important writings in chemistry are summarized by year, and there is also much valuable information on topics such as the development of chemical nomenclature and older scientific periodicals.
A number of books on the history of chemistry appeared in the last decade of the Twentieth Century:
- From Chemical Philosophy to Theoretical Chemistry (1993)
- The Historical Development of Chemical Concepts (1991)
- The History of Chemistry (1992)
- Ideas in Chemistry (1992)
- Murder, Magic, and Medicine (1994)
- The Norton History of Chemistry (1993) same as:
- The Fontana History of Chemistry (1992)
A relatively new journal in the field is Foundations of Chemistry (Philosophical, Historical, Educational and Interdisciplinary Studies of Chemistry). For historical material on chemistry, a unique resource is the Royal Society of Chemistry's Library and Information Centre. The LIC has over 3,000 historical chemical books from the 16th-19th centuries and over 7,000 images of distinguished chemists.
Biographical Information
Biographical Sources: A Guide to Dictionaries and Reference Works (1986) is a good place to start for sources of information on famous chemists and other scientists. It contains such things as birth and death dates, details of education, honors, positions held, and sometimes even family details.
The most important English-language compilation for scientists of all ages is the Dictionary of Scientific Biography, which has about 5000 biographies for scientists who are no longer living. The 24-volume American National Biography appeared in 1999. It includes biographies of more than 17,500 men and women. The standard source for biographical information on living scientists in the U.S. and Canada is American Men and Women of Science. Frequently revised since the original edition was published in 1906, the current edition always lists only living scientists. Hence it is important for libraries to retain all editions of the work. Of assistance in finding entries in previous editions of AM & WS is American Men and Women of Science Editions 1-14 Cumulative Index. AM & WS is also available as a database.
The Marquis Who's Who series of publications has long been a standard source for brief biographical information. Among their more specialized publications is Who's Who in Science and Engineering. The Nobel Prize winners can be found on the Internet in the Chemistry Section of the Nobel Prize Internet site. A printed work with similar information is Nobel Laureates in Chemistry, 1901-1992. It includes biographies, photos, and references to the laureates' most significant publications, as well as their family backgrounds. Women in Chemistry and Physics: A Biobibliographic Sourcebook covers 75 historical and contemprary women scientists, ranging in birth from 370 AD (the first noted woman mathematician, Hypatia) to 1941 AD (astrophysicist Beatrice Muriel Hill Tinsley). Included are three women who served as presidents of the American Chemical Society: Helen Murray Free, Mary Lowe Good, and Anna Jane Harrison. American Chemists and Chemical Engineers first appeared in 1976, with a second volume published in 1994.
Directories of Scientists and Scientific Organizations
There is a Directory of Technical and Scientific Directories (1988), but recent directories on the Internet have made the task of establishing contact with an industrial chemist or scientific organization (company, professional society, academic or governmental institution) considerably easier than in the past. Although many Web sites provide access to a relevant organization or person, there is no single, all-encompassing world-wide directory or search engine that will allow us to find the needed address in all cases. Nevertheless, a search of Google, AltaVista, or one of the other popular search engines nowadays will often turn up a home page for a scientist or organization.
In print, the ACS Directory of Graduate Research is a frequently-published, reliable source of information on research universities in the US and Canada. It is on the Web as DGRWeb. Along with fields such as faculty name and research institution (US/Canada), you can also search by:
- Section (biochemistry, chemical engineering, cheminformatics, chemistry, environmental science, marine science, medicinal and/or pharmaceutical chemistry, polymers and materials science, toxicology)
- More Specific Research Areas (analytical chemistry, bioinformatics, catalysis, etc.)
- Specific Research (keyword searching of the "Research Interests" section of the DGR entries).
The ACS Directory of Graduate Research is published every two years. The work is invaluable in assessing the type of research carried out at the major universities since it includes a bibliography of the recent publications of the faculty. A version of the 1993 and 1995 DGRs appeared on a CD-ROM entitled ACS Directories on Disk. It includes several other products: College Chemistry Faculties, the Chemical Sciences Graduate School Finder, and Chemical Research Faculties: An International Directory.
For organizations, the annual Directory of American Research and Technology is a key source. It is especially valuable for those seeking employment in a given area of the country since it includes a geographic index.
Directories of Suppliers of Chemicals and Chemical Laboratory or Plant Equipment
Again, the Internet has considerably facilitated the task of finding a chemical supplier, with companies such as Thermo Scientific and Sigma-Aldrich having their catalogs on the Web now. The series of directories with the title Chem Sources is an excellent printed source for U.S. and other suppliers. Chem Sources is a database, CSCHEM, on the STN system, and now has a Web presence.
Also on STN is perhaps the most nearly comprehensive collection of chemical catalogs. It is CHEMCATS, a database of catalogs from worldwide suppliers for commercially available chemicals, enzymes, proteins, and other biochemical substances. Included are catalogs from both manufacturers and distributors of chemicals, including such firms as Sigma, Fluka, and Aldrich's Rare Chemicals catalog, plus Ishihara, Maybridge and many others. In command mode, on the STN System, the command HELP SPP lists all of the suppliers included in CHEMCATS. The combination of a Registry File structure (or other search) plus an LC (locater field) for the presence of CHEMCATS will identify whether a chemical substance is available commercially. The PRICE display format facilitates comparison of the records from the various companies. CHEMCATS is also a featured component of the SciFinder and SciFinder Scholar products from CAS, with direct links from the chemical record to the suppliers' listings.
Companies with access to Elsevier MDL's software are likely to have an enhanced version of the Fine Chemicals Directory, now called the Available Chemicals Directory, since it has added data on compounds available in bulk (over 25 kilograms).
There are many other directories of chemical manufacturers or suppliers, some with information on custom chemical manufacturing services. Among those is the ACS's Chemcyclopedia (now with a Web version). Expensive services can be had from SRI (their Directory of Chemical Producers on Dialog) and Chemical Information Services (their Database and Directory of World Chemical Producers).
For equipment, a revered source found in most libraries is the Thomas Register of American Manufacturers. Covering approximately 150,000 companies, the Thomas Register is available online, on the Web (as ThomasNet), and as a CD-ROM product. Searches can by conducted by company name, product, Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code, trade or brand name, geographical location, etc.
Not to be overlooked are the directories published as supplements to chemical or scientific news journals, such as Chemical Week Buyer's Guide issue, the Analytical Chemistry Lab Guide issue, Nature's Directory of Biologicals issue, etc.
Information on Chemical Industries and Businesses
The Royal Society of Chemistry's Chemical Business NewsBase was sold in 2001 to Engineering Information, an Elsevier Science company. The CBNB was launched in 1985 to provide worldwide chemical business news and information. Chemical Abstracts Service has since 1974 produced CIN (Chemical Industry Notes). Chemical business news in the areas of production, pricing, sales, facilities, products and processes, corporate activities, government activities and the people who work in those areas can be found in CIN. Covering more than 80 journals, trade magazines, newspapers, newsletters, government publications, and special reports, CIN is updated weekly. On STN, the database includes CAS Registry Numbers and a thesaurus for geographic terms.
Books on industrial chemistry include:
- The Chemical Industry (1993)
- Industrial Organic Chemistry (1993)
- Introduction to Industrial Chemistry (1991)
- Survey of Industrial Chemistry (1992)
- The Chemical Industry at the Millennium: Maturity, restructuring, and globalization (2003)
- Shaping the Industrial Century: The remarkable story of the evolution of the modern chemical and pharmaceutical industries (2005)
The Kline Guide to the U.S. Chemical Industry is an expensive source that is available in print and CD-ROM. Published since 1971, the guide includes marketing, economic, and company information. The focus is more on the end-use markets for chemical categories that include many speciality applications and formulated products. SRI's Chemical Economics Handbook can be found in most business libraries with an interest in chemistry. SRI International (formerly the Stanford Research Institute) is one of the world's leading chemical marketing research services. The source is worldwide in its coverage. It emphasizes commodities and goes into detail on the economics of producing a particular chemical commodity. The American Chemical Council annually publishes the Guide to the Business of Chemistry. It contains a 10-year historical overview, with data such as shipments, inventories, volume of output, price indices, and financial performance measures, among others, for basic, specialty, life sciences, and consumer products chemicals.
Chemical news magazines, such as Chemical Week and Chemical & Engineering News frequently have special issues devoted to analyses of the industry as a whole or certain subareas of the chemical industry, such as coatings, polymers, etc.
Links to lists of printed sources for:
- biographical information
- directories of people, places and academic programs
- chemical suppliers, equipment, and software
Link to Internet Sources for Chemical History, Biography, Directories, and Industry Sources
This wiki page was originally created by Gary Wiggins. If you have a legitimate desire to contribute to its contents, please request an account from the sysop, Dr. David J. Wild, by e-mailing him at djwild @ indiana.edu
