In Tribute to V.V. Nalimov: Renaissance Scholar and Scientometrician Par Excellence

painting was created, and mathematical models were used to study the judgments of experts in painting) Citation Zndexing—Zts Theory and Application in Science, Technology, and Humanities. 8 We use these clusters in our ZSI/CompuMath ‘“ and ISI/BIOMED” systems to define highly specialized areas of research. In Labyrinths, Nalimov shows how human culture is revealed through its systems of language. Each language system contains a special set of symbols, and communicates a special kind of information. Nalimov shows, for example, how the genetic code is a language in which messages are built out of nucleic acids and proteins. Nahmov draws these ddferent languages together, and arranges them on a scale, ranging from “hard” systems with precise meanings to “soft” ones with ambiguous meanings. “Hard languages include mathematics, computer programs, and the genetic code. “Soft” languages are such systems as abstract painting, poetry, and ancient Indian philosophy. In hk holistic view, even the arts have their own self-governing language systems for communicating in the emotional arena. This language scale allows Naliiov to survey the entire landscape of human culture. Toward the end of Labyrinths, Nalimov explores the relationship between language and thought, and shows how an understanding of this relationship may reveal new, creative ap preaches to scientific problems. In the epilogue to Labyrinths, Nalimov reaffirms his conviction that “science can be regarded as the develop ment of a certain language adapted so as to receive and mirror our knowledge of the world.”1 (p. 202) But he also shows a certain uneasiness with many of the new “dialects” science has brought forth. In our desire to invent new, ever more precise languages, such as computer programs, Nalimov believes we often lose sight of the need for varied and flexible responses to different kinds of problems. Labyrinths presents a novel series of viewpoints on language and on science. It challenges many of our assumptions about the ways in which we communicate, and the ways in which we use languages to order the world about us. Evidently, I am not alone in my enthusiasm for Nalirnov’s work. Reviews of Nalimov’s books are just beginning to