Tag Archives: science

Bibliography of American Scientists

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Did you know that the recent Christopher Nolan film Oppenheimer was based on a book? Well, it was! It was based on AMERICAN PROMETHEUS by Kai Bird. It even won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography in 2006. This made us wonder, what other great biographies and autobiographies on great American scientists do we have in the TBP collection? So we decided to search the catalog. We even found the autobiography of a scientist who is blind! Here are some of the titles we discovered:

AMERICAN PROMETHEUS: THE TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY OF J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER by Kai Bird (DB 61087)
ARBORNAUT: A LIFE DISCOVERING THE EIGHTH CONTINENT IN THE TREES ABOVE US by Margaret Lowman (DB 104556, LB 13833)
ATOMIC WOMEN: THE UNTOLD STORIES OF THE SCIENTISTS WHO HELPED CREATE THE NUCLEAR BOMB by Roseanne Montillo (DB 105401)
AVOID BORING PEOPLE: LESSONS FROM A LIFE IN SCIENCE by James Watson (DB 66912)
FROM IMMIGRANT TO INVENTOR: AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE SERBIAN-AMERICAN PHYSICIST, CHEMIST AND PIONEER OF ELECTRICAL TRANSMISSION AND THE LONG-DISTANCE TELEPHONE LINE by Michael Pupin (DB 98555)
GIRL DECODED: A SCIENTIST’S QUEST TO RECLAIM OUR HUMANITY BY BRINGING EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE TO TECHNOLOGY by Rana El Kaliouby (DB 99895)
HIDDEN FROM HISTORY: THE LIVES OF EIGHT AMERICAN WOMEN SCIENTISTS by Kim K. Zach (DB 58587)
LAB GIRL by Hope Jahren (DB 84436; LB 08952)
POISON SQUAD: ONE CHEMIST’S SINGLE-MINDED CRUSADE FOR FOOD SAFETY AT THE TURN OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY by Deborah Blum (DB 92502)
PRIVILEGED HANDS: A SCIENTIFIC LIFE by Geerat J. Vermeij (DB 42911, BR 10669)
PROVING GROUND: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE SIX WOMEN WHO PROGRAMED THE WORLD’S FIRST MODERN COMPUTER by Kathy Kleiman (DB 115112)
RISE OF THE ROCKET GIRLS: THE WOMEN WHO PROPELLED US, FROM MISSILES TO THE MOON TO MARS by Nathalia Holt (DB 84440; LB 08653)

Juvenile Nonfiction

ADVENTUROUS SPIRIT: A STORY ABOUT ELLEN SWALLOW RICHARDS by Ethlie Ann Vare (DB 36589)
Grades 2-4.

Staff Pick – Laura Jean– IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS by Rebecca Skloot, DB 70661

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The imminent release of HBOs The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, featuring Oprah Winfrey on Saturday April 22nd has generated new interest in the book on which it is based. THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS explains the origins of HeLa cells, which were ultimately used in developing vaccines, medical treatments, and many other scientific breakthroughs. These cells were harvested from a young African American woman in Baltimore, Maryland, Henrietta Lacks, who was suffering from a particularly virulent form of cervical cancer. This book not only explains the impact HeLa cells have had on the evolution of medical research, it also delves into the way that the medical establishment treated Mrs. Lacks and her family and their fight for compensation and acknowledgement.

Written in a thought-provoking and journalistic manner, Ms. Skloot, does a brilliant job of explaining fairly complex scientific processes and medical procedures in a way that anyone can understand. In addition, she interviews Mrs. Lack’s family with compassion, yet maintains her journalistic neutrality. She skillfully sets their personal story against the backdrop of the racial and medical culture of the latter half of the 20th century. Winning best book awards from organizations such as The National Academies of Science and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks remained on the New York Times Bestseller List for over two years.

NLS Annotation: Science journalist chronicles the life of African American Henrietta Lacks, who in 1951 had cervical tissue removed and grown in culture–without her permission–producing the first continuously replicating human-cell samples for research. Discusses subsequent medical breakthroughs, including the polio vaccine and AIDS treatment. Explores bioethical concerns involving tissue ownership. Bestseller. 2010.

If you have already read this book or would prefer a book that looks at the broader issue of medical ethics and race, try MEDICAL APARTHEID: THE DARK HISTORY OF MEDICAL EXPERIMENTATION ON BLACK AMERICANS FROM COLONIAL TIMES TO THE PRESENT by Harriet A. Washington, DB 66297.