chemistry

Homer Jacobson

Homer Jacobson is a chemistry 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 Homer Jacobson rather than just read about it. In short: Homer Jacobson is a former chemistry professor at Brooklyn College, New York City. In the 1950s he illustrated basic self-replication in artificial life with a model train set.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Homer Jacobson is a former chemistry professor at Brooklyn College, New York City. In the 1950s he illustrated basic self-replication in artificial life with a model train set. A seed "organism" consisting of a "head" and "tail" boxcar could use the simple rules of the system to consistently create new "organisms" identical to itself, so long as there was a random pool of new boxcars to draw from. In 1955 he published "Information, Reproduction and the Origin of Life," in American Scientist. In 2007, he retracted two passages of this work after realizing that errors in his paper were being misread as evidence for creationism.

Articles "Virustat, a Device for Continuous Production of Viruses," Applied Microbiology, 14(6): 940–952 (1966 November) with Leslie S. Jacobson. "The Informational Capacity of the Human Eye," Science 113:292-293 (March 16, 1951). "The Informational Capacity of the Human Ear," Science 112:143-144 (August 4, 1950). "The informational content of mechanisms and circuits," Information and Control, 2(3):285-296, September 1959. "On Models of Reproduction," American Scientist 46(1958):255-284. "Information, Reproduction and the Origin of Life," American Scientist, p. 125 (January 1955) Retraction of two passages: Letter to the editor, American Scientist (November–December 2007)

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Homer Jacobson

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Homer Jacobson claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, 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 Homer Jacobson 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 Homer Jacobson 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 Homer Jacobson

In research: Homer Jacobson appears in chemistry 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 Homer Jacobson 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: Homer Jacobson is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 21st-century American chemists, American chemist stubs, Brooklyn College faculty, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Homer Jacobson 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 Homer Jacobson in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Homer Jacobson in simple terms?

Homer Jacobson is a former chemistry professor at Brooklyn College, New York City. In the 1950s he illustrated basic self-replication in artificial life with a model train set.

Why does Homer Jacobson matter?

Because it connects several chemistry 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 Homer Jacobson?

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 Homer Jacobson.