Best science biography books

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I’ve got a ton of stuff that needs to get done this week, but inom don’t want the blog to be completely devoid of new content, so here’s a quasi-poll question for my wise and worldly readers:

What scientist fryst vatten most in need of a good popular biography?

By “popular biography,” I mean things like Norton’s Great Discoveries books, several of which Ive reviewed here, including Krauss on Feynman and Reeves on Rutherford, two books that inom keep coming back to for useful tidbits. These aren’t deep works of historical scholarship, and don’t necessarily attempt to be definitive, but focus on being accessible and readable.

There are only a small number of these out there, though, and many important scientists don’t have this kind of bio yet. So, the question to be answered in comments is: who should get one of these sorts of books that doesn’t already have one?

I’ve been reading a lot of history of physics recently for the boo

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Biography: The scientist within

Nearly two decades on from the explosion in popular-science publishing, books by luminaries such as Stephen Hawking and Richard Dawkins are still selling in six figures, and authors such as Brian Cox and Rebecca Skloot are drawing a younger generation of readers. But I am struck by a new emphasis — on popular-science biography. As I learned while researching my book The Age of Wonder (Harper, 2008), the “life scientific” can be an extraordinarily gripping adventure.

There is a noble tradition of science biography stretching back to the 1600s. Recently, a fresh hunger to understand the making of science through the making of scientists has emerged. We want to read about scientific work as part of a life story — to know what makes a scientist tick, and what set them ticking. We are intrigued to learn that Dawkins, the eminent biologist and atheist, had “a normal Anglican upbringing”, was inspired by the Dr Doolittle books and taught in 1960s San

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The Best Books About Scientists

Now In Theaters

Vintage Books American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer

Now 49% Off

With the summer of “Barbenheimer” upon us, now is the perfect time to read the definitive biography of one of the most complicated figures in the history of American science: J. Robert Oppenheimer. Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book follows the rise and fall of the brilliant physicist behind the world’s first atomic bomb. The New York Times Bestseller uses Oppenheimer as a window into the making of the Cold War.

Best Illustrations

Dey Street Books Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout

Now 29% Off

This National Book Award Finalist combines archival photos, images, and clippings with dazzling line drawings to tell the story of legendary scientist Marie Curie and her husband and collaborator Pierre Curie. Reviewers praise this “sumptuously illustrated”