"This set of books represents a detailed compendium of authoritative, research-based entries that define the contemporary state of knowledge on technology"--Provided by publisher.

Ava Helen Pauling's rich career as an activist for civil rights and liberties, against nuclear testing, and for peace, feminism, and environmental stewardship is best understood in the context of her enduring partnership with her famous husband, Linus Pauling. In this long-awaited biography, Mina Carson reveals the complex and fascinating history behind one of the great love stories of the twentieth century. Though she began her public career in the shadow of her spouse, Ava Helen soon found herself tugged between supporting Linus in his career and wanting him to embrace the social and political causes she felt passionate about. As a young woman in the 1920s, she believed it was her destiny to accept duties as a mother and homemaker. However, neither of those roles fully satisfied the feisty and willful Ava Helen. Her more complete identity emerged over decades, as she evolved into an influential activist. Many aspects of Ava Helen Pauling's story were S shared by countless American women of her generation and the generations surrounding her. Despite new educational opportunities, they were expected to conform to the same limited social roles dictated by the gender ideology of the nineteenth century. When second wave feminism erupted in the 1960s, its force did not come solely from the young women rebelling against their elders' rules and limitations, but also from the frustrated dreams of those elders themselves. Ava Helen Pauling: Partner, Activist, Visionary is a welcome addition to the literature on women's and family history and the peace and reform movements, and it is an important complement to writings about Linus Pauling.

Overlooked, even despised by historians of chemistry for many years, the genre of biography has enjoyed a revival since the beginning of this century. The key to its renaissance is the use of the biographical form to provide a contextual analysis of important themes in contrast to the uncritical, almost hagiographic, lives of chemists written in the earlier part of the twentieth century. Bringing together the contributions of scholars active in several different countries, Perspectives on Chemical Biography in the 21st Century leads the reader through emerging questions around sources, and the generic problems faced by authors of biographies, before moving on to discuss aspects more related with physical, theoretical and inorganic chemistry, and facets of 19th century chemistry. In contrast to the letters and diaries of earlier chemists, we are now faced with scientists who communicate by telephone and email, and compose their documents on computers. Are we facing a modern equivalent of the destruction of the Library of Alexandria where all our sources are wiped out electronically?