chemistry

Irving F. Laucks

Irving F. Laucks 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 Irving F. Laucks rather than just read about it. In short: Irving Fink Laucks (July 3, 1882-March 9, 1981) was an American chemist and philanthropist. Biography Laucks was born in Akron, where he attended public schools and graduated second in his high school class.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Irving Fink Laucks (July 3, 1882-March 9, 1981) was an American chemist and philanthropist.

Biography Laucks was born in Akron, where he attended public schools and graduated second in his high school class. He received a bachelor's degree in 1904 from the Case School of Applied Science and a master's degree from the Case School in 1909. Around 1923, Laucks discovered a cheap and effective soybean glue used for the manufacture of Douglas fir plywood. This glue made plywood resistant to moisture, allowing it to be used on exterior surfaces for the first time. By 1930, seven years after Lauck's discovery, the glue was used in all Douglas fir plywood plants. With James A. Nevin, the two men "dominated the development of wood product glues in the United States between 1927 to 1946". His company, I.F. Laucks Inc., was acquired by Monsanto in 1944.

Political activism and philanthropy Around 1960, Laucks began to be active in the peace movement, sponsoring talks by Robert Pickus and encouraging the public to express their desire for peace. He wrote a letter to Eisenhower in January 1960, advocating for a plan of reciprocal disarmament, where the United States would reduce its supply of weaponry by two percent and encourage other countries to do the same. Using his personal fortune from his plywood company, he became an early investor in Ramparts magazine. In 1967 he was also on the board of sponsors for M.S. Arnoni's magazine The Minority of One. He also provided funds to Robert M. Hutchins' Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions, specifically donating to fund the work of Women's Strike for Peace activists Marjory Collins and Eleanor Garst. In spring 1964, Laucks became a consultant for the Center and eventually moved to Santa Barbara to increase his involvement with its work. That year, Laucks was a member of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Triple Revolution and a signatory of the Triple Revolution memorandum. Laucks was also interested in religious movements and parapsychology He studied the relationship between ESP and religious experiences. Eventually, Laucks came to believe that "psychic phenomena constitute just as real a part of the world" as scientific data. In 1953, Laucks published the book A Speculation in Reality, which addressed psychic phenomena using his background as a chemist and scientist. In a 1968 editorial, he proposed the creation of a new religion based on scientific principles of evolution and research. Laucks was an early investor in the Glendan Company in the 1970s, which attempted to build machines that could record psychic phenomena.

Personal life He married Eulah Croson She served as the director of Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions and was a regent of Immaculate Heart College.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Irving F. Laucks

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Irving F. Laucks 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 Irving F. Laucks 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 Irving F. Laucks 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 Irving F. Laucks

In research: Irving F. Laucks 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 Irving F. Laucks 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: Irving F. Laucks is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1981 deaths, 20th-century American inventors, American chemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Irving F. Laucks 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 Irving F. Laucks in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Irving F. Laucks in simple terms?

Irving Fink Laucks (July 3, 1882-March 9, 1981) was an American chemist and philanthropist. Biography Laucks was born in Akron, where he attended public schools and graduated second in his high school class.

Why does Irving F. Laucks 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 Irving F. Laucks?

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 Irving F. Laucks.