The History and Poetics of Scientific Biography

Although biography as a genre has increasingly become a topic of scholarly inquiry, the genre of scientific biography; those biographies of scientists, engineers and medical doctors; has largely been overlooked. It is to remedy this situation that this volume has been conceived. Borrowing approaches and methods from cultural studies and the history, philosophy and sociology of science, the contributors to this volume cover a broad range of subjects, periods and locations. By presenting a rich diversity of essays, the volume is able to chart the reoccurring conceptual problems and devices that have influenced scientific biographies from the seventeenth century to the present day.