Where to Start: Reference Works
Reference sources give more general information on a topic. These are a great place to start if you are looking for background information, or an alternative to wikipedia. Reference can be dictionaries (describing terms of a field), chronologies (giving timelines and descriptions of important events), bibliographies (listing sources for the field), or general reference (which are usually encyclopedias). UCLA houses many other reference sources that can be found in the library catalog.
If there is a history of science, medicine, and/or technology reference source that you use regularly and do not see here, please let me know!
- Gale E-Books (formerly Gale Virtual Reference Library) This link opens in a new window
Online encyclopedias, dictionaries, and specialized reference sources, primarily in the social sciences and humanities.
- Reference Universe This link opens in a new window
A good place to start, but note that it is an index to over 15 million articles in 11,000 subject encyclopedias and handbooks, both print and online and does not provide full-text articles. Instead, it will connect you to our catalog so you know where to find the appropriate encyclopedia, dictionary or other reference work. You will be linked to UCLA's holdings for any entries you find.
- Cambridge Histories Online This link opens in a new windowFull-text access to the complete 250-plus volumes of Cambridge Histories reference series. Provides political, economic, and social history, philosophy, and literature of selected countries and subjects. Continually updated with new volumes taken from the print series as soon as they become available.
- Oxford Reference This link opens in a new window
Spans 25 different subject areas, bringing together digitized entries across Oxford University Press’s Dictionaries, Companions and Encyclopedias. UC subscription allows limited simultaneous users, so if you can't connect try again later. Please note: UCLA Library has access to a selected number of Oxford reference titles, and not the entire set.
Dictionaries
Chronologies
- A Chronology of the History of Science, 1450-1900 byCall Number: Q125 .G39 1987ISBN: 082409106XDate: 1987-03-01
Reference Books and Bibliographies
Below is a short list of encyclopedias, bibliographies, and handbooks for the history of science, technology, and/or medicine. You can find additional resources by searching the UCLA Library Catalog.
Companion to the History of Modern Science by Call Number: Q125.C737 1990Date: 1996Survey of the history of western science from the 16th century.
Early American Scientific and Technical Literature by Call Number: Z7402 .B38 1990ISBN: 0810823187Date: 1990An annotated bibliography of scientific and technical books, pamphlets, and broadsides published in the US between 1665 and 1799.
Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures, 2nd edition by Call Number: Q124.8.E56 2008Date: 2008
A Historical Catalogue of Scientists and Scientific Books by Call Number: Q141 .G38 1984ISBN: 9780824089597Date: 1984-10-01Bibliography and encyclopedia
Biographies
- American National Biography Online This link opens in a new windowBiographies of more than 19,000 men and women who have influenced American history.
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography This link opens in a new window
An illustrated collection of 60,000 biographies of men and women who shaped all aspects of Britain's history, up to the present.
- Dictionary of Scientific Biography, 16 volumes byDate: 1970-1980
- Oxford Dictionary of Scientists byDate: 1999
