science

George H. Goble

George H. Goble is a science 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 H. Goble rather than just read about it. In short: George Harry Goble (December 11, 1952 – March 18, 2026) was an American scientist and academic, who was a staff member at the Purdue University Engineering Computer Network and a 1996 Ig Nobel Prize winner. Life and career Goble was commonly known as ghg, since he used that as a login id and signature in digital communications from the 1970s.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Life and career Goble was commonly known as ghg, since he used that as a login id and signature in digital communications from the 1970s. He received his BS in electrical engineering at Purdue University. In 1981, he wired together the backplanes of two DEC VAX-11/780 systems and made the first multi-CPU Unix computer, preceding DEC's dual-processor VAX-11/782. The operating system was based on the 4.1 BSD kernel, and the modifications thus eventually made it into the 4.3 BSD Unix release. At the beginning of the 4.3 BSD user manuals, Bill Joy wrote a special note of thanks to GHG for being courageous enough to put the multi-CPU kernel into a production environment before anyone else. (However, the frequent crashes for a while inspired the writing of many humorous text files by the Purdue University electrical engineering student body, such as "The VAX had a Blowout", to be sung to the tune of "London Bridge is Falling Down".) The development of the dual-CPU Unix system was the subject of Goble's master's thesis. Around this time, Goble, along with Bill Croft, also developed a networking protocol for Unix, referred to as pnet, which was used at Purdue at the time before being displaced by TCP/IP. Pnet allowed remote logins, and remote execution of commands, among other capabilities. In the late 1980s, Goble started experimenting with refrigerants, due to increased danger and lower thermodynamic efficiency of the recently introduced R-134a compared to the older R-12 which was being phased out due to concerns about damage to the ozone layer, and the incompatibility of R-134a with the lubricating oil and other materials used in systems built for R-12. In 1987, he converted the beverage refrigerators in the Eta Kappa Nu lounge in the basement of the Purdue Electrical Engineering building to using a refrigerant of his own devising. This refrigerant is now recognized as R-406A by ASHRAE and is available commercially under the trade name AutoFrost. He later developed another refrigerant which is compatible with R134A lubricants, but which is superior in thermodynamic efficiency and lower system internal pressures called GHG-X8. In 1996, Goble was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Chemistry, for preparing a barbecue for cooking in less than 5 seconds by the use of a smoldering cigarette, charcoal and LOX (liquid oxygen). This act attracted the attention of the West Lafayette, Indiana fire department, which warned him to never let them catch him in the possession of LOX near a barbecue fire ever again. Goble was also noted for driving a vehicle with the Indiana license plate UNIX, and also GHG-1. Goble died in Lafayette, Indiana, on March 18, 2026, at the age of 73.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with George H. Goble

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what George H. Goble claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, 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 H. Goble 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 H. Goble 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 H. Goble

In research: George H. Goble appears in science 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 H. Goble 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 H. Goble is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1952 births, 2026 deaths, 20th-century American inventors, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for George H. Goble 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 H. Goble in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what George H. Goble 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 H. Goble out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is George H. Goble in simple terms?

George Harry Goble (December 11, 1952 – March 18, 2026) was an American scientist and academic, who was a staff member at the Purdue University Engineering Computer Network and a 1996 Ig Nobel Prize winner. Life and career Goble was commonly known as ghg, since he used that as a login id and signat…

Why does George H. Goble matter?

Because it connects several science 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 H. Goble?

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 H. Goble.