Four years in the making, the Academic Press Dictionary of Science and Technology is a 2,400-page work covering 124 fields of science. Containing complete, up-to-date definitions for all areas of science and technology, the Dictionary is distinguished by its "Windows." For each of the 124 disciplines covered in the Dictionary, a recognized leader in the field offers a brief overview of the area - including its meaning, history, and implications for the future. Boxed and shaded for easy reference, these "Window" essays offer practical, concise synopses that make the terminology of each field easier to understand." "Some of these "Windows" and their distinguished contributors include Astrophysics by S. Chandrasekhar; Biochemistry by Arthur Kornberg; Biology by R.C. Lewontin; Chemistry by Glenn T. Seaborg; Crystallography by Linus Pauling; Electromagnetism by Arno Penzias; Endocrinology by Rosalyn Yalow; Entomology by Edward O. Wilson; Evolution by Stephen Jay Gould; Geography by Gilbert Grosvenor; Microbiology by Joan W. Bennett; Oceanography by Roger Revelle; Plasmids by Joshua Lederberg; Surgery by Michael DeBakey; and Vaccinology by Jonas Salk" "The Dictionary is designed for use by practicing scientists and professionals in all scientific fields - consultants and technical personnel; high school, college, and graduate students; writers, researchers, or educators working with a scientific vocabulary; and general readers interested in science. If your corporate, academic, or institutional library serves any of these, then the Academic Press Dictionary of Science and Technology is the only scientific dictionary you need. The definitions are clear and accessible to the nonspecialist, yet they provide all the technical information that the specialist needs." "Traditionally, dictionaries have been prepared by compiling a single alphabetical word list. A given definer or editor is assigned a certain section of the alphabet and deals with all the words in that section. This method is inappropriate for a scientific work. A single alphabetical section of a science dictionary will contain words from many specialized fields, and no one person can have sufficient knowledge to define all of them. Therefore, our Reference Department staff used a computerized data base to prepare this Dictionary not as a single A-to-Z list but as 124 separate A-to-Z lists, one for each scientific field covered in the book. This made it possible for every field to be developed separately, in effect as a single-subject dictionary, by experts trained specifically in that field." "The Dictionary was compiled in five stages. First, members of the Board of Advisors approved entry lists for the 124 scientific fields. Each entry list consisted of the specific terms judged to be appropriate for inclusion in that field. These entry lists ranged in size from 4,000 to 5,000 terms for large general fields, such as Geology, Engineering, or Medicine, down to 100 to 300 terms for newer, highly focused fields, such as Chaotic Dynamics or Biotechnology. Second, the Contributing Editors wrote definitions for these terms. Third, the Board of Advisors reviewed the definitions for accuracy. Fourth, the definitions were given a final evaluation by the outside Board of Review. These reviewers scrutinized every single definition in a given manuscript, either approving the definition as written or providing an edited version when necessary. Finally, the 124 individual fields were merged and assembled to form a single alphabetical list." "Set a new standard of excellence by adding the Academic Press Dictionary of Science and Technology to your reference collection. It will become your reference of choice." --Book Jacket.