Biography is one of the most popular categories of books—and indeed the most popular
category among nonfiction books, according to one British poll. Thus, biography offers
historians of science an opportunity to reach a potentially broad audience. This essay
examines approaches typical of different genres of scientific biography, including historians’...
Historians and sociologists of science often identify the efflorescence of social stud ies of science with the work of postwar American intellectuals such as Robert K. Merton and Thomas S. Kuhn. They often also refer to the views of Michael Polanyi (1891-1976) on the roles of tacit knowledge, apprenticeship, social...