Scientists Biographies for 5th and 6th Graders? 162
kimery asks: "My wife has just been named librarian for a 5th and 6th grade school. As part of the science program, students are required to read several science biographies over the course of the school year. The current biography collection consists mainly of dead (but oh so famous!) scientists. She'd like to expand the collection of science biographies, and would like to have your suggestions as to which scientists should be included. Bonus points for suggesting someone outside the 'usual suspects.' So, what scientists do you think would be interesting for a typical 5th/6th grade student?"
Less conventional scientists (Score:4, Insightful)
Ada Byron Lovelace: The Lady and the Computer [amazon.com]
Nikola Tesla: A Spark of Genius [amazon.com]
Turing and the Computer: The Big Idea [amazon.com]
Mathematicians: great lessons for kids! (Score:5, Insightful)
John Nash: Lesson: really, really, really crazy people win Nobel prizes.
Evariste Galois. Lesson: live fast, die young, leave a good-looking corpse.
Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood (Score:3, Insightful)
So, even if it's not strictly a biography, you should consider buying it, anyway. Here, read the review on
Interesting Scientists (Score:3, Insightful)
Tycho Brahe (Silver noses and burst bladders)
Charles Steinmetz (dwarfism, socialism, and alternating current! Oh, my!)
Benjamin Franklin (A little inventing, a little politics, and a lot of great one-liners)
Archimedes (just plain awesome)
George Washington Carver (Score:3, Insightful)
There is this one guy (Score:4, Insightful)
My two cents (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:You've got to include Tesla (Score:2, Insightful)