biology

Herschel L. Roman

Herschel L. Roman is a biology 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 Herschel L. Roman rather than just read about it. In short: Herschel Lewis Roman (September 29, 1914 – July 2, 1989) was a geneticist who popularized the use of yeast in genetic research. Biography Roman was born in Szumsk in eastern Poland on September 29, 1914.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Herschel Lewis Roman (September 29, 1914 – July 2, 1989) was a geneticist who popularized the use of yeast in genetic research.

Biography Roman was born in Szumsk in eastern Poland on September 29, 1914. His father had moved to the United States, intending to bring Herschel and his mother, but they were not able to travel until 1921 because of World War I. After that, he spent his early years in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin, then in St. Louis, where they had sent Herschel in advance to provide him with an urban high school education. He enrolled at the University of Missouri in 1932 and, majoring in chemistry and minoring in physics, graduated in 1936. During his senior year, he met Lewis Stadler. For his graduate studies, Roman became Stadler's graduate student and switched to genetics. In 1942 Roman received his Ph.D. in genetics from the University of Missouri, moved to Seattle in September, and joined the faculty of the Department of Botany at the University of Washington, where he stayed for the rest of his career. Around 1944, during World War II, he entered the Army Air Force, became a captain, and then returned to the University of Washington in 1946. He started studying the cytogenetics of maize, experimenting with their supernumerary B chromosomes, but found that the maize with "interesting" genes were not hardy enough to grow west of the Cascade Mountains. After difficult experiences with growing maize in a greenhouse, going to the California Institute of Technology each summer from 1946 to 1948, and growing corn in Cle Elum, Washington to get east of the Cascades, Roman decided to switch to studying Saccharomyces cerevisiae instead. He invited Carl Lindegren, faculty member at Washington University in St. Louis and the only yeast geneticist in the United States, to visit the University of Washington. From then on, Roman's concentration was on yeast genetics. In 1952 and 1956, Roman spent sabbaticals in Paris working with Boris Ephrussi. The University of Washington established its Department of Genetics in June 1959, with Roman as chairman; he held the seat until August 1980. Roman, who fellow yeast geneticist Geovanni Magni declared to be the "Pope of yeast genetics", received numerous honors during his career. He was president of the Genetics Society of America in 1968 and received its Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal in 1985, and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1969 and the National Academy of Sciences in 1970. He also received honorary doctorates from Pierre and Marie Curie University (University of Paris 6) and the University of Missouri. He was also the founding editor of the Annual Review of Genetics. Roman suffered a stroke in January 1976. He remained active in research until his death from stroke at Swedish Hospital in Seattle, Washington, on July 2, 1989, aged 74.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Herschel L. Roman

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Herschel L. Roman claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, 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 Herschel L. Roman 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 Herschel L. Roman 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 Herschel L. Roman

In research: Herschel L. Roman appears in biology 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 Herschel L. Roman 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: Herschel L. Roman is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1914 births, 1989 deaths, 20th-century American biologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Herschel L. Roman 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 Herschel L. Roman in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Herschel L. Roman in simple terms?

Herschel Lewis Roman (September 29, 1914 – July 2, 1989) was a geneticist who popularized the use of yeast in genetic research. Biography Roman was born in Szumsk in eastern Poland on September 29, 1914.

Why does Herschel L. Roman matter?

Because it connects several biology 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 Herschel L. Roman?

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 Herschel L. Roman.