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Interview no.: 0078
Date of interview: 16 November 1987
Location: Institute for Scientific Information, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
No. of pages: 46
Interviewer:
Jeffrey L. Sturchio, Arnold Thackray
Minutes: 180
Access level: Semi-restricted Access. Users may view the oral history with the permission of CHF. Permission of the interviewee is required to quote from, cite, or reproduce the oral history. Please contact CHF to request interviewee’s permission.
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Eugene Garfield begins this interview by recalling his youth in New York, his family background and early education. He describes his interest in the West, his first jobs in Colorado and California, and his brief military career, injury and subsequent medical discharge. Garfield continues by discussing his undergraduate degree in chemistry, the influence of his first ACS meeting and the Division of Chemical Literature on his life's work. He also talks about his participation in the Welch Medical Library project. In the middle portion of the interview, Garfield focuses on the origin and development of the Institute for Scientific Information [ISI] and its products, including major publications. He also describes his doctoral studies at the University of Pennsylvania, and difficulties in having his thesis approved. The interview concludes with a discussion of his patents for a copying device, an analysis of the successes of ISI, and speculation on ISI's future activities.
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Page No. |
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Childhood and Early Education
Parents and early childhood in the East Bronx. Move to the West Bronx. Public schools. Influence of uncles. Stepfather. Peter Stuyvesant High School. Summer work in the garment district. Transfer to De Witt Clinton High School. Academic effects of a trip to Florida. Senior English Teacher. |
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1 |
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Early College Studies and Military Career
Interest in the West. Summer job in Colorado. First semester at the University of Colorado. Working in California and Denver. Joins Merchant Marine. Drafted by the Army. Volunteers for 10th Mountain Division. Officer Training School. Medical Discharge. |
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4 |
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Undergraduate Studies
Summer school at Columbia. First marriage. Two years at Berkeley. Move to New York. Divorce and custody of son. Interest in child care. Change from premed to chemistry major. Undergraduate degree from Columbia. Sales correspondent for LaSalle University. Junior chemist at Evans Research and Development. |
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6 |
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Graduate Work and First Work in Chemical Literature
Laboratory Assistant to Louis Hammett at Columbia. First publication. First ACS meeting and the Division of Chemical Literature. Job offer from James Perry. Welch Medical Library project. SHAL and MeSH. Committee of Honorary Consultants. Sanford V. Larkey. Public Symposium on Machine Methods in Scientific Documentation. Shephard's Citations. |
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9 |
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First Publication Activities
Termination from Welch project. Graduate courses at Columbia Library School. Associate editor of American Documentation. Consultant for Smith, Kline & French. Publishes Contents in Advance. Second marriage. Contract with Bell Laboratories. Financing publication activities. |
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14 |
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Origin of Major Publications and Formation of Private Company
Origin of Current Contents. Outside financial support. Early subscribers. First office and employees. Science Citation Index. Origin of the Institute for Scientific Information. Origin of Index Chemicus. Doctoral studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Difficulties with thesis approval. |
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20 |
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Growth and Development of ISI
Patents for a copying device. Committee for Sensory Devices and Aids to the Blind. Selling ISI products. ASCA. Importance and success of publishing cumulations. Extending publication activities to social sciences and humanities. Publication of The Scientist. Speculation on the future activities of ISI. |
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29 |
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Notes
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37 |
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Index
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40 |
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| 1949 |
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B.S., Chemistry, Columbia University |
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| 1954 |
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M.S., Library Science, Columbia University |
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| 1961 |
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Ph.D., Structural Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania |
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| Evans Research & Development Corp. |
| 1949-1950 |
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Laboratory Chemist |
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| Columbia University |
| 1950-1951 |
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Research Chemist |
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| Johns Hopkins University |
| 1951-1953 |
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Staff member, Welch Machine Indexing Project |
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| Eugene Garfield Associates |
| 1954-1960 |
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President |
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| Institute for Scientific Information |
| 1960-1992 |
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President & CEO |
| 1992-1992 |
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Chairman |
| 1993-Present |
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Chairman Emeritus |
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| ASIS&T (American Society for Information Science & Technology) |
| 1998-2000 |
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President |
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| The Scientist LLC. |
| 2001-Present |
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President |
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| 1953 |
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Grolier Society Fellow, Columbia University
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| 1966 |
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Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
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| 1966 |
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Fellow, Institute of Information Scientists
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| 1975 |
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Award of Merit, American Society of Information Scientists
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| 1977 |
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Hall of Fame Award, Information Industry Association
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| 1977 |
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Herman Skolnik Award, Division of Chemical Information, American Chemical Society
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| 1978 |
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Book Award for Best Information Science Book of 1977 (Essays of an Information Scientist, Vol.:1 & 2, 1962-1976), American Society of Information Science
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| 1980 |
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Award, Chemical Notation Society
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| 1983 |
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Patterson-Crane Award, American Chemical Society
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| 1983 |
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John Price Wetherill Medal, Franklin Institute
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| 1984 |
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Derek J. de Solla Price Memorial Medal, Scientometrics
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| 1986 |
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John Scott Award, City of Philadelphia
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| 1987 |
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Distinguished Alumni Award, Columbia University, School of Library Service
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| 1988 |
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Doctor Honoris Causa, Vrije Universiteit, Brussels, Belgium
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| 1990 |
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Honorary Ph.D., State University of New York, Albany
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| 1991 |
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Honorary Fellow, Society for Technical Communication
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| 1991 |
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Honorary Ph.D., Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia
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| 1993 |
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Honorary Fellow, Medical Libraries Association
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| 1993 |
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M.D. Honoris Causa, University of Rome, Tor Vergata, Italy
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| 1995 |
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M.D. Honoris Causa, Charles University, Czech Republic
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| 1999 |
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Avenue of Technology Award, Philadephia, Pennsylvania
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| 2000 |
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Professor Kaula Award for Library and Information Science, India
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Jeffrey L. Sturchio is Executive Director, Public Affairs, Human Health Europe, Middle East & Africa, at Merck & Co., Inc., where he is responsible for the development, coordination, and implementation of a range of policy and communications initiatives for the region. Before assuming his current position in 1995, he was Merck’s Director, Science & Technology Policy, in the Corporate Public Affairs Department from 1993 to 1994; and Associate Director, Information Resources & Publishing, from 1992 to 1993. After a sojourn on the senior staff of the AT&T Archives, Dr. Sturchio joined Merck & Co., Inc. as Corporate Archivist in June 1989. He received an A.B. in history from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in the history and sociology of science from the University of Pennsylvania. He was Associate Director of the Beckman Center for the History of Chemistry from 1984 to 1988, and has held teaching appointments at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Rutgers University, and the University of Pennsylvania as well as a fellowship at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
Arnold Thackray is president of the Chemical Heritage Foundation. He majored in the physical sciences before turning to the history of science, receiving a Ph.D. from Cambridge University in 1966. He has held appointments at Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 1983 he received the Dexter Award from the American Chemical Society for outstanding contributions to the history of chemistry. He served on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania for more than a quarter of a century. There, he was the founding chairman of the Department of History and Sociology of Science, where he is the Joseph Priestley Professor Emeritus.
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