MONTGOMERY, Scott L.

PERSONAL: Male.

ADDRESSES: Home—Seattle, WA. Agent—c/o University of Chicago Press, 1427 East 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637.

CAREER: Writer, geologist, independent scholar, and technical translator.

WRITINGS:

Minds for the Making: The Role of Science inAmerican Education, 1750-1990, Guilford Press (New York, NY), 1994.

The Scientific Voice, Guilford Press (New York, NY), 1996.

The Moon and the Western Imagination, University of Arizona Press (Tucson, AZ), 1999.

Science in Translation: Movements of Knowledge through Cultures and Time, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 2000.

The Chicago Guide to Communicating Science, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 2003.

SIDELIGHTS: Scott L. Montgomery is a geologist and independent scholar who writes about the history of science. In Minds for the Making: The Role of Science in American Education, 1750-1990, Montgomery discusses how science is viewed in the context of liberal education. He notes that in recent battles over which disciplines should be included in curricula, science has largely been ignored, and a greater emphasis has been placed on subjects in the humanities. In addition, the science courses students are offered are not presented as core elements of their education that will impact their future; courses such as chemistry, biology, and earth science often seem somewhat removed from broader education and are perceived as subjects that students must simply endure.

However, Montgomery notes, for most of the twentieth century, science was regarded as central to American education. He considers the history of science in education from the American Revolution to the early twenty-first century, and discusses how the role of science in education has changed according to the political, social, and economic factors in various eras. According to Montgomery, three paradigms have influenced the prominence of science: "academism," which presents science as a pure endeavor, necessary to the refinement of the mind; "practicalism," which values science as essential to the nation's economic development and its place as a world power; and "reformism," which views science as a key factor in social transformation. In Science, Charles W. Anderson wrote, "This book is rich and detailed in describing the distinctive epochs in the history of American science education. It is easy to read and the argument often perceptive." In Choice, C. S. Dunn called the book "eye-opening" and praised its "crucial insights" on science's effect on American education.

The Moon and the Western Imagination examines the Western world's perception of the Earth's moon throughout history, including philosophical, artistic, and scientific points of view. Montgomery draws on a rich variety of sources from classical antiquity to modern times, but focuses on the seventeenth century, when the first known map of the moon was made, and when its major features were named. He presents both the historical contexts and interrelationships for the ideas of philosophers and artists such as Galileo, Copernicus, Da Vinci, and Van Eyck. A Publishers Weekly reviewer praised Montgomery's relaxed writing style and noted that The Moon and the Western Imagination provided "a narrow but penetrating contribution to cultural history."

In Science in Translation: Movements of Knowledge through Cultures and Time, Montgomery discusses how scientific knowledge develops over time, evolving through history. He notes that contrary to popular theory, science does not proceed in a straightforward, linear manner, but is influenced by cultural beliefs, practices, values, economic conditions, and social structures. Montgomery spends two-thirds of the book tracing how science progressed from the era of the ancient Greeks to the Renaissance, placing an emphasis on astronomical developments. He discusses the transmission of scientific ideas through Rome and medieval Europe, but also considers the lesser-known path of ideas that spread through Middle Eastern and Islamic cultures. In the last part of the book, Montgomery examines how Japanese culture has influenced Western scientific concepts, from Newtonian physics to the theory of evolution.

Montgomery ties all these threads together with an overall examination of how both translation and the development of specialized scientific jargon influenced—and continue to influence—the proliferation and exchange of scientific ideas. Reviewing Science in Translation in Isis, Maria Tymoczko commented: "Although Montgomery's study is based largely on secondary sources, involving little original research of his own, his approach to the subject matter gives a new entryway into the large questions he tackles. His lens of investigation—translation—is a brilliant choice." She added, "Reading this book is an eye-opening experience." Monica H. Green wrote in American Scientist, "Montgomery has contributed important observations on the nature of scientific systems that are, increasingly, becoming the property of the entire globe."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Scientist, November-December, 2000, Monica H. Green, review of Science in Translation: Movements of Knowledge through Cultures and Time, p. 552.

Choice, December, 1994, review of Minds for theMaking: The Role of Science in American Education, 1750-1990, p. 621.

Isis, December, 2002, Maria Tymoczko, review of Science in Translation, p. 655.

Journal of the American Medical Association, August 27, 2003, Alexander W. Gotta, review of The Chicago Guide to Communicating Science, p. 1098.

Nature, June 13, 1996, review of The Scientific Voice, p. 568.

New Scientist, December 21, 2002, James Kingsland, review of The Chicago Guide to Communicating Science, p. 75.

Publishers Weekly, February 28, 1994, review of Minds for the Making, p. 81; September 27, 1999, review of The Moon and the Western Imagination, p. 246.

Science, November 4, 1994, Charles W. Anderson, review of Minds for the Making, p. 837; September 20, 1996, Geoffrey Nunberg, review of The Scientific Voice, p. 1672.

Science News, October 23, 1999, Cait Goldberg, review of The Moon and the Western Imagination, p. 258; March 1, 2003, Cait Goldberg, review of The Chicago Guide to Communicating Science, p. 143.

Sky and Telescope, September, 2000, review of TheMoon and the Western Imagination, p. 79.

Technical Communication, August, 1997, Geoff Semonian, review of The Scientific Voice, p. 309.*