Professional Association

An excellent starting point for researches interested in the history of chemistry. The site contains catalogs for the documentary and image archives, oral history collection, and special exhibits of the Chemical Heritage Foundation. The site also offers biographical and historical capsules, organized by subject, which can be accessed through interactive portraits and timelines. Additionally, several of the Foundation's exhibits are presented online on subjects such as women in chemistry and a pictorial exhibit of early batteries. The Chronology of Chemical Information Science presents a comprehensive timeline tracing how communication about chemistry has changed over time. There are also a number of educational tools and sites for younger students. An excellent and comprehensive site for discovering historical aspects of chemistry.

The Chemical Heritage Foundation was founded twenty years ago by the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) to promote public understanding of chemistry, chemical engineering and their uses. This site is the home page for the organization, and mostly covers administrative elements and publicity. The Foundation does maintain a historical library in Philadelphia, and the site links to that library's online catalog of materials. In addition, the Foundation runs the Beckman Center for the History of Chemistry, which gives grants, awards and lectures. Moreover, the Beckman Center has conducted over 270 oral history interviews with chemists and has posted abstracts of those interviews on the site. The abstracts include short biographies of the subjects, and include forms to order full transcripts from the Foundation.

This single, text-only page lists information about the Royal Society of Chemistry Historical Group and its members. A roster of officers heads the page, and a program of its semi-annual meeting follows. At the bottom there is a list of about 20 links to interesting sites in the history of chemistry (and more broadly, science) worldwide and a table of contents for the most recent issue of the Historical Group newsletter (as well as a link to the back issues to 1996). In addition, the site contains a link to a long list of paragraph biographies of chemists, mostly from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The History of Science Society is the largest American organization focusing on the history of science. The Society's website has many features of interest for members, prospective members and the general public. There are sections of the site that list current research, publications, meetings of note, and a full array of information about the organization, its leadership and members. The Guide to the History of Science is a searchable database with entries on institutions, associations and publications, as well as the names and information for nearly 5,000 practitioners of history and philosophy of science. In addition, there is a section with regularly updated information about the Society's annual meeting, which takes place in November. Visitors can sign up to be a member of the Society or renew their membership online. A list of employment opportunities in the history of science, as well as a list of grants and awards, are helpful for professionals in the field. Also helpful for these professionals are a set of materials to aid in the teaching of the history of science. Some parts of the site, such as the Research Libraries Group's History of Science and Technology Database (of printed materials), are only accessible to members.

This text-only site contains mostly administrative and publication information, such as how to join the Division of History of Chemistry of the American Chemical Society and a roster of officers. Most notable for scholars are the tables of contents of the Bulletin for the History of Chemistry going back to 1988. There are also lists of those who have received awards for their historical scholarship from the American Chemical Society, and a list of about a dozen links to other sites on the history of chemisty and the history of science in general. The site also allows visitors to examine the titles of papers and symposia at upcoming meetings of the ACS.

This is a relatively new association with a growing membership. The Association's site has a list of the members of the organization and a back list of newsletters, most of them reprinted online. A form allows prospective members to join. Most significant for non-members and researchers in the history of mining is a fairly exhaustive 1998 bibliography of Australian mining history. There are general references as well as more specific references for the different regions of Australia.

The Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP), founded in San Francisco in 1889, has given the Catherine Wolfe Bruce gold medal for lifetime achievement in the field of astronomy in virtually every year since 1898. This site lists the award recipients alphabetically and by year, and allows the visitor to read short biographies of each winner. Included in these biographies are small photographs. There are also links to scanned articles about the award and its history, mainly in the astronomical journal, Mercury.

This site is essentially a set of links to materials of interest to members of the British Society for the History of Science. Approximately 20 links cover the publications of the organization, including a newsletter, monographs and the British Journal for the History of Science, three prizes given by the group, special offers for members, and notes about its membership and administration. There are also educational links, including a list of courses offered on the history of science in British universities, policy papers and methodological statements for teachers of the history of science, and lists of other sites that cover the history of science.

The Bulletin of the History of Medicine is the official publication of the American Association of the History of Medicine and the Johns Hopkins Institute of the History of Medicine. While the site allows visitors to browse the contents and cover artwork of every issue going back to 1996, only subscribers to the Bulletin's online service are allowed access to the actual articles. There are also links to the home page of the American Association of the History of Medicine, detailed information about the Bulletin, and links to other organizations and Web sites for those interested in the history of medicine.

Not presenting any original material of its own, this site is a portal for all things related to Albert Einstein. The long list of links includes over 30 references to online material on Einstein's life and work. There are also links to photographs, primary materials, quotations of and by Einstein. In addition, there are links to sites explaining Einstein's complicated physics; some of these sites are designed for advanced science students only, while others are designed for a general audience. Links to dozens of other sites on Einstein, from serious to humorous, round out the site.