Dr. Harvey Einbinder (June 18, 1926 – January 30, 2013) was an American

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

and amateur historian.

Early life

Einbinder was born to Jacob B. Einbinder and Dora (née Abelson) in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...

.Harvey Einbinder
www.legacy.com He had one brother, David, and one sister, Hinde.EINBINDER
Obituaries ''Jewish Ledger'' (Connecticut), February 5, 2013. Retrieved September 22, 2014

Education

Einbinder studied for two years at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...

(UConn), at first physics but then mathematics in which he received a degree with "highest distinction" in 1946. He later received his Ph.D. in physics from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

Career

He became a consultant to the

Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory Calspan Corporation is a science and technology company founded in 1943 as part of the Research Laboratory of the Curtiss-Wright Airplane Division at Buffalo, New York. Calspan consists of four primary operating units: Flight Research, Transportati ...

and to General Electric on the Atlas missile. He published papers on hypersonic aerodynamics and the ionization of solid particles.

Encyclopædia Britannica

Einbinder spent five years combing the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...

'' for flaws, and found enough to fill a 390-page book, called ''The Myth of the Britannica'', published by Grove Press in 1964.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) As summarized by ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory ...

'' 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".Peter Westcott
Britannica on the Shelves
' (review of the 1965 edition of Encyclopædia Britannica), The Age, May 28, 1966, p.25 Einbinder at one point also disputed the historical accuracy of the

Black Hole of Calcutta The Black Hole of Calcutta was a dungeon in Fort William, Calcutta, measuring , in which troops of Siraj-ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal, held British prisoners of war on the night of 20 June 1756. John Zephaniah Holwell, one of the Britis ...

account. Among his other publications are ''An American Genius: Frank Lloyd Wright'', and the play ''Mah Name is Lyndon''.

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.

Publications

* ''The Myth of the Britannica''. New York: Grove Press, 1964 / London: MacGibbon & Kee, 1964 / New York: Johnson Reprint Corp., 1972 * "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, *''Mah name is Lyndon; a play''. Illustrated by Florence Safadi. New York, Lady Bird Press. 1968

References

* 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''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Einbinder, Harvey Encyclopædia Britannica American physicists 1926 births 2013 deaths University of Connecticut alumni Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni