CAS has made this
historic literature available in the same online databases
that cover the latest research. Now available in the CA and
CAplus files are 3.8 million records from CA issues prior to
1967. This material brings the total number of online records
to 20.5 million spanning 1907 to the present. About 789,000 of
the earlier records are for patents while 2,855,000 are
journal material. The balance is for books, technical reports,
conference proceedings, and
dissertations.
 Einstein, Fermi, Fleming and Nobel
laureates' records included
Among the pre-1967 scientific
literature for which records are now accessible online in CAS
files are many studies in fields other than chemistry, for
example, more than 100 papers by Enrico Fermi, winner of the
1938 Nobel Prize in physics; more than 50 articles by Albert
Einstein; and definitive studies by E. B. Chain, H.W. Florey
and Alexander Fleming, who shared the Nobel Prize for the
discovery of penicillin in 1945.
"We have opened the door to a
little-used storeroom of information from the first half of
the twentieth century, " said CAS Director Robert J. Massie.
"Findings reported by the scientists of this era may have
unforeseen and exciting implications for the most pressing
interests and concerns of today's researchers. Making this
vast collection available for searching by both information
professionals via STN and research scientists using SciFinder
and SciFinder Scholar will have untold benefits in the coming
years."
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Studies in subjects as diverse as physics,
antibiotics and DNA
"Scientists always build upon the
work of their predecessors, and earlier research can in many
ways have immediate relevance for today," said Dr. Matthew J.
Toussant, CAS Director of Editorial Operations. "To mention
just a few examples, the material we have now made available
online contains pioneering studies in subjects as diverse as
physics, antibiotics and DNA. Though these records could have
been found previously in the printed volumes of CA, making
them immediately available for search and retrieval at the
researcher's desktop can only increase their value and
utility."
CAS began in 1999 adding material
from pre-1967 CA issues to CAS' online databases. The massive
undertaking required converting to electronic form a huge
volume of information that was previously available only in
print. With the completion of the project, researchers can use
STN or SciFinder services to search this earlier literature
via words in the abstract text and title, the publication
title, author names, publication year and more.
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