A tribute to Eugene Garfield: Information innovator and idealist

No other individual has had a greater influence on the fields of scientometrics, informetrics, and information science generally than Eugene Garfield. Most of his contributions over the decades are found to have had their origins very early in his career. Chemistry and chemical information launched his career and led to his involvement with medical information, computing technology, and the field of documentation. Content page products provided the foundation to his business, and the singular invention of a citation index for science, his most far reaching achievement, led to many spin offs including journal analyses, historical charting, evaluation, and science mapping. His idea for a science newspaper was derived from his early work in current awareness. The paper concludes with discussion of his management style, approach to business and philanthropy, and how they shed light on his complex personality and motivations.