Helaine Selin (born 1946) is an American

librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time, ...

historian of science The history of science covers the development of science from ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural, social, and formal. Science's earliest roots can be traced to Ancient Egypt and Mesopo ...

, author and the editor of several bestselling books.

Career

Selin attended

Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university with campuses in Binghamton, New York, Binghamton, Vestal, New York, Vestal, and Johnson City, New Yor ...

, where she earned her bachelor's degree. She received her MLS from

SUNY Albany The State University of New York at Albany, commonly referred to as the University at Albany, UAlbany or SUNY Albany, is a Public university, public research university with campuses in Albany, New York, Albany, Rensselaer, New York, Rensselae ...

. She was a

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John F. ...

volunteer from the fall of 1967 through the summer of 1969 as an English teacher in

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...

. She retired in 2012 from being the science librarian at

Hampshire College Hampshire College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was opened in 1970 as an experiment in alternative education, in association with four other colleges ...

. Selin is well known for being the editor of ''

Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures ''Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures'' is an encyclopedia edited by Helaine Selin and published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1997, with a second edition in 2008, and third edition in 2016. ...

'' (1997) which is one of the first books which allows readers to "compare a variety of traditional systems of mathematics and cosmologies." ''Mathematics Across Cultures: The History of Non-Western Mathematics'' (2000), is considered by ''

Mathematical Intelligencer ''The Mathematical Intelligencer'' is a mathematical journal published by Springer Verlag that aims at a conversational and scholarly tone, rather than the technical and specialist tone more common among academic journals. Volumes are released qua ...

'' as a companion to the ''Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures''. The journal, ''

Mathematics and Computer Education ''Mathematics and Computer Education'' was a peer-reviewed academic journal in the fields of mathematics and computer science education, published from 1982 to 2016. It was edited by George M. Miller Jr. of Nassau Community College. It is the su ...

'', wrote that ''Mathematics Across Cultures'' filled a gap in the

history of mathematics The history of mathematics deals with the origin of discoveries in mathematics and the mathematical methods and notation of the past. Before the modern age and the worldwide spread of knowledge, written examples of new mathematical developments ...

and was "an exciting collection of papers on

ethnomathematics In mathematics education, ethnomathematics is the study of the relationship between mathematics and culture. Often associated with "cultures without written expression", it may also be defined as "the mathematics which is practised among identifiabl ...

." Selin's editorial work, Nature Across Cultures: Views of Nature and the Environment in Non-Western Cultures (2003), was considered by ''Polylog'' to be a "valuable source for intercultural philosophers." Selin edited the ''Encyclopaedia of Classical Indian Sciences'' (2007). She has also edited several more books in the Science Across Cultures series: Medicine Across Cultures, Nature and the Environment Across Cultures, Childbirth Across Cultures, Parenting Across Cultures, Happiness Across Cultures and Death Across Cultures.

Bibliography

* (ed.) ''

'', Dordrecht; Boston: Kluwer Academic, 1997. * (ed. with Xiaochun Sun) ''Astronomy Across Cultures: the history of non-Western astronomy'', Dordrecht; Boston: Kluwer Academic, 2000. Science across cultures 1. * (ed. with Ubiratan D'Ambrosio) ''Mathematics Across Cultures: the history of non-western mathematics'', Dordrecht; Boston: Kluwer Academic, 2000. Science across cultures 2. * (ed. with Hugh Shapiro) ''Medicine Across Cultures: history and practice of medicine in non-Western cultures'', Dordrecht; Boston: Kluwer Academic, 2003. Science across cultures 3. * (ed. with Arne Kalland) ''Nature Across Cultures: views of nature and the environment in non-western cultures'', Dordrecht; Boston: Kluwer Academic, 2003. Science across cultures 4. * (ed. with Roddam Narasimha) ''Encyclopaedia of classical Indian sciences'', Hyderabad: Universities Press, distributed by Orient Longman, 2007. * (ed.) ''Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures'', 2nd. edition. New York, Berlin: Springer, 2008. * (ed. with Pamela Kendall Stone) ''Childbirth across cultures: ideas and practices of pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum'', Dordrecht; New York : Springer, 2009. Science across cultures 5. * (ed. with Gareth Davey) ''Happiness across cultures: views of happiness and quality of life in non-Western cultures'', Dordrecht; New York: Springer, 2012. Science across cultures 6. * ''Parenting Across Cultures: Childrearing, Motherhood and Fatherhood in Non-Western Cultures''. Dordrecht; New York: Springer, 2014. 7. * (ed.) ''Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures'', 3rd. edition. New York, Berlin: Springer, 2016.8. * (ed. with Robert Rakoff) "Death Across Cultures: Death and Dying in Non-Western Cultures", Dordrecht, New York: Springer, 2019. 9. * (ed.) "Aging Across Cultures: Growing Old in the Non-Western World", Cham, Switzerland, Springer Nature, 2021. 10. * (ed. with Hilal H. Sen) "Childhood in Turkey: Educational, Sociological and Psychological Perspectives." Cham, Switzerland, Springer Nature, 2022. 11.

References

External links

Helaine Selin
at hampedia.org
Helaine Selin
at goodreads.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Selin, Helaine 1946 births Living people Historians of science Ethnomathematicians American librarians American women librarians Hampshire College faculty Binghamton University alumni American women academics 21st-century American women