A Biographical Encyclopedia of Scientists and Inventors in American Film and TV Since 1930

In-this first in-depth study of how scientists and inventors have been portrayed on screen, A. Bowdoin Van Riper catalogs nearly 300 separate performances and includes essays on more than 80 scientists, inventors, engineers, and medical researchers. These essays cover well-known figures such as Isaac Newton, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, and Marie Curie as well as less familiar individuals such as astronomer Maria Mitchell, dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel, and maverick automobile designer Preston Tucker.

A. Bowdoin Van Riper is a historian whose research focuses on the social and cultural dimensions of modern science and technology. He is the author or editor of five books, including Science in Popular Culture (2002) and Rockets and Missiles: The Life Story of a Technology (2007).