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.

Contents: Series editor's preface; Preface; Introduction: A new look at the genre of scientific biography, Thomas Söderqvist; Presenting a 'life' as a guide to living: ancient accounts of the life of Pythagoras, Liba Taub; Biography as a route to understanding early modern natural philosophy, Stephen Gaukroger; Neither genius nor context incarnate: Norman Lockyer, Jules Janssen and the astrophysical self, David Aubin and Charlotte Bigg; Framing the evidence: scientific biography and portraiture, Patricia Fara; Biography and the reward system in science, Thomas L. Hankins; The tragedy of Comrade Hessen: biography as historical discourse, Christopher A.J. Chilvers; Received wisdom in biography: Tycho biographies from Gassendi to Christianson, Helge Kragh; The programmatic function of biography: readings of 19- and 20th-century biographies of Niels Stensen (Steno), Signe Lindskov Hansen; Discriminating days? Partiality and impartiality in 19th-century biographies of Newton, Rebekah Higgitt; Biographies as mediators between memory and history in science, Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent; 'La mauvaise herbe': unwanted biographies both great and small, Jacalyn Duffin; Primary suspects: reflections on autobiography and life stories in the history of molecular biology, Rena Selya; Pas de deux: the biographer and the living biographical subject, Vassiliki Betty Smocovitis; Resuscitating the 'Great Doctor': the career of biography in medical history, Beth Linker; 'No genre of history fell under more odium than that of biography': the delicate relations between scientific biography and historiography of science, Thomas Söderqvist; Index.