Harvey Einbinder
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Harvey Einbinder (June 18, 1926 – January 30, 2013)<ref name="legacy-obit" /> was an American physicist, author and amateur historian.
Early life
Einbinder was born to Jacob B. Einbinder and Dora (née Abelson) in New Haven, Connecticut.<ref name=legacy-obit>Harvey Einbinder, legacy.com</ref> He had one brother, David, and one sister, Hinde.<ref name=j-ledg>EINBINDER Obituaries Jewish Ledger (Connecticut), February 5, 2013. Retrieved September 22, 2014</ref>
Education
Einbinder studied for two years at the University of Connecticut (UConn), at first physics but then mathematics in which he received a degree with "highest distinction" in 1946.<ref name=uc-math/> He later received his Ph.D. in physics from Columbia University.
Career
He became a consultant to the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory and to General Electric on the Atlas missile.<ref name="uc-math" /> He published papers on hypersonic aerodynamics and the ionization of solid particles.<ref name="uc-math">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="doi=10.1063/1.1698931">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="doi=10.1063/1.1698800">Template:Cite journal</ref> Einbinder patented a ten-finger typewriter keyboard.<ref name="patent/US4332493A">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Encyclopædia Britannica
Einbinder spent five years combing the Encyclopædia Britannica for flaws, and found enough to fill a 390-page book, called The Myth of the Britannica, published by Grove Press in 1964.<ref name=brit-myth>Einbinder, Harvey The Myth of the Britannica. New York: Grove Press, 1964 (OCLC 152581687)/ London: MacGibbon & Kee, 1964 (OCLC 807782651) / New York: Johnson Reprint Corp., 1972. (OCLC 286856)</ref> As summarized by The Age two years later, Einbinder's book "showed beyond argument that the Britannica was not a completely impartial and absolutely infallible work of general reference; that 666 articles in the 1963 edition were reprinted from editions dating back to 1875 in some cases; and that American influence on its editorial policy had become dominant".<ref>Peter Westcott Britannica on the Shelves (review of the 1965 edition of Encyclopædia Britannica), The Age, May 28, 1966, p.25</ref> The Science Magazine commended Einbinder as a "dedicated prince of iconoclasts" who "rips into his subject from all angles and with devastating effect".<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> Furthermore, it was suggested that the editorial board of the Encyclopædia Britannica hire Einbinder as a fact-checker, although this never came to be.<ref name=":0" />
Einbinder at one point also disputed the historical accuracy of the Black Hole of Calcutta account.Template:Cn Among his other publications are An American Genius: Frank Lloyd Wright, and the play Mah Name is Lyndon (about US president Lyndon B. Johnson and the Vietnam War<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>).
Private life
Harvey Einbinder was married to Florence Einbinder, who predeceased him. He died on January 30, 2013, at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City.<ref name=j-ledg/>
Publications
- New York: Grove Press, 1964
- London: MacGibbon & Kee, 1964
- New York: Johnson Reprint Corp., 1972
- De Solla Price, Derek J. (1964)."A Great Encyclopedia Doesn't Have To Be Good?". (Extract) Science, Volume 144, Issue 3619, pp. 665–666. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online). DOI: 10.1126/science.144.3619.665 –
- Review of Einbinder's The Myth of the Britannica.
- Review of Einbinder's The Myth of the Britannica.
- "Politics and the new Britannica", The Nation 220:11:342-4 (1975) –
- Review of the Britannica 3
- An American genius : Frank Lloyd Wright. New York : Philosophical Library, 1986, Template:ISBN
- Mah name is Lyndon; a play. Illustrated by Florence Safadi. New York, Lady Bird Press. 1968
References
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