astronomy

George B. Chapman

George B. Chapman is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand George B. Chapman rather than just read about it. In short: George Bunker Chapman (June 10, 1925 – September 7, 2016) was a professor and a pioneer in research of cell biology and ultrastructure using transmission-light and transmission electron microscopy. He was the first person to see the interior structure of four bacterium species in electron micrographs he produced, described in his Ph.D. dissertation completed in 1953.

Key takeaways

George B. Chapman belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect George B. Chapman to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of George B. Chapman from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

George Bunker Chapman (June 10, 1925 – September 7, 2016) was a professor and a pioneer in research of cell biology and ultrastructure using transmission-light and transmission electron microscopy. He was the first person to see the interior structure of four bacterium species in electron micrographs he produced, described in his Ph.D. dissertation completed in 1953.

Biography Chapman was born in Bayonne, New Jersey on 10 June 1925 and died in Washington, D.C., on 7 September 2016. In 1943, he graduated from high school and served as a radio man in the United States Naval Reserve in the Pacific Theater in 1944–1945 during World War II. He was an undergraduate from 1946 to 1950 at Princeton University, graduating with high honors. In 1952, he earned his M.S. degree and in 1953, his Ph.D. also at Princeton. Professor Frank H. Johnson supervised his senior thesis entitled “The isolation of a bacteriophage active against a strain of Erwinia carotovora that causes a soft rot of the onion.” Chapman published his senior-thesis research in the Journal of Bacteriology in 1950 and his Ph.D. research in the same journal in 1953. His Ph.D. thesis concerned Bacillus cereus, B. megatherium, Escherichia coli, and Protobacterium phosphoreum. In 1953–1954, he was a research assistant at Princeton University; 1954–1956, research associate at Princeton (while being employed by RCA); 1956–1960, Assistant Professor of Zoology at Harvard University; 1960–1963, Associate Professor of Anatomy at Cornell University Medical College; 1963–2011, Professor of Biology at Georgetown University; and 2011–2016, Professor Emeritus at Georgetown. Anthony S. Fauci (May 16, 2019) was among his students at Cornell University.

Academic career Chapman was the Chair of Georgetown University's Department of Biology from 1963 to 1990, where he initiated the Department's graduate program and senior-thesis requirement and increased the size of its faculty. Under his chairmanship, the Department of Biology welcomed female professors including Rita R. Colwell, Ellen J. Henderson, and Diane Wallace Taylor. The Department annually awards the Chapman Medal to senior undergraduates for outstanding research projects. George Chapman taught cytology and histology and electron microscopy. He performed research on many kinds of cells including those of an alga, bacteria, bees, cnidarians, fish (especially the Channel Catfish), a human, a leech, a phytoplasma, protozoa, a wasp, and a whale. He published over 100 scientific papers, was a fellow of the American Society for Microbiology and won two Georgetown Bunn Awards for teaching.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with George B. Chapman

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what George B. Chapman claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to George B. Chapman before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about George B. Chapman ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of George B. Chapman

In research: George B. Chapman appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses George B. Chapman in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: George B. Chapman is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1925 births, 2016 deaths, American biologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for George B. Chapman outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study George B. Chapman in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what George B. Chapman means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain George B. Chapman out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is George B. Chapman in simple terms?

Why does George B. Chapman matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study George B. Chapman?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on George B. Chapman.