Scientific biography and autobiography is one of the most obvious, yet paradoxically under-researched, genres for exploring the relationship between literature and science in the nineteenth century. This chapter explores the multiplicities of literature as not only the narrative vehicle but also as contested sources of expressive and inventive notation, ranging from formal poetical composition to notebooks and other manuscripts in which the unfolding of thought can be traced. The key institutions of scientific organization, such as the Royal Society, the Royal Institution and the British Association for the Advancement of Science, were contexts that coloured the writing of lives that were offered to populate science's cultural authority. The chapter concludes with a focus on the self-consciously authoritative and field-shaping aspirations of The Life, Letters and Labours of Francis Galton, written by his disciple Karl Pearson over a long period.