chemistry

J. Lawrence Smith (chemist)

J. Lawrence Smith (chemist) 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 J. Lawrence Smith (chemist) rather than just read about it. In short: John Lawrence Smith (December 17, 1818 – October 12, 1883) was an American chemist and mineralogist. He published extensively on analytical chemistry and mineralogy, including Mineralogy and Chemistry, Original Researches (1873; enlarged with biographical sketches, 1884).

Key takeaways

J. Lawrence Smith (chemist) belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
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Reproduce the core statement of J. Lawrence Smith (chemist) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

John Lawrence Smith (December 17, 1818 – October 12, 1883) was an American chemist and mineralogist. He published extensively on analytical chemistry and mineralogy, including Mineralogy and Chemistry, Original Researches (1873; enlarged with biographical sketches, 1884). His collection of meteorites was the finest in the United States, and upon his death, he passed it to Harvard. The J. Lawrence Smith Medal is named in his honor.

Education J. Lawrence Smith was reportedly born either near Charleston, South Carolina, or in Louisville, Kentucky. He was educated at the University of Virginia, he entered the Medical College of South Carolina, receiving a medical degree in 1840. His graduation thesis was an essay on the "Compound Nature of Nitrogen." He then went to Europe to continue his studies. In Paris he studied widely, taking classes in chemistry, toxicology, physics, mineralogy and geology. His teachers there included Théophile-Jules Pelouze. After meeting Justus von Liebig in Giessen, Germany, he spent his summers studying in Giessen and his winters studying in Paris.

Career By 1843, he had returned to the United States. In 1844 he began the practice of medicine at Charleston. In 1846, he helped to establish the Medical and Surgical Journal of South Carolina. His tastes, however, clearly tended more towards chemical analysis than towards medicine. He spent much of his time improving methods for analytical chemistry, and applying them to problems in chemical analysis.

He examined various problems in agricultural chemistry, including the composition of soils, the value of marls and fossil bones, and the growing of cotton. As a result, he was selected by Secretary James Buchanan to go to Turkey, in response to a request from the Sultan of Turkey for a scientific advisor on cultivating cotton. Between 1846 and 1850, Smith investigated the mineral resources of Turkey, for Turkey's government, and he discovered deposits of coal, chrome ore, and the famous emery deposits of Naxos. In Turkey he discovered liebigite, naming it after Justus von Liebig. Smith returned to the United States in 1850, and perfected the inverted microscope, an invention which he had begun working on while abroad. He was apparently offered a professorship at the University of New Orleans, but wrote in December, 1850, that it "at present exists but in name." Some of his papers from this period style him as professor of chemistry at the University of Louisiana (now Tulane University), New Orleans, Louisiana. By October 9, 1851, he was visiting Charleston. He described himself as a "peripatetic philosopher" and lamented his lack of a settled laboratory, writing "All my scientific labors have as yet been carried on in the Gipsey style." On June 24, 1852, J. Lawrence Smith married Sarah Julia Guthrie, daughter of James Guthrie. In the autumn of 1852 he took up a professorship in the chair of chemistry at the University of Virginia, replacing Robert Empie Rogers, who moved to Philadelphia. This proved particularly productive for Smith's scientific research. His publications included a method for analyzing the alkaline silicates, work he had begun in Paris. This was an important contribute to analytical methods. As a result of his father-in-law's appointment as Secretary of the Treasury in 1853, the couple moved to Washington, D.C. where Sarah served as a hostess for her father. Smith was able to do some work at the Smithsonian Institution and gave lectures for the US Department of Agriculture, but had little opportunity for research. James Guthrie had helped to found the University of Louisville, and in 1854 Smith took over a position there as chair and Professor of Medical Chemistry and Toxicology in the university's medical department. He replaced Benjamin Silliman Jr., who moved to Yale. Smith remained at Louisville from 1854 until 1866, resigning not long after the death of James Guthrie. Smith was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1857. After 1866, he spent much of his time traveling in Europe, collecting, studying and writing about "aerolites". His interest in meteorites predated his retirement from Louisville; his earliest paper on the subject was read before the American Association for the Advancement of Science in April, 1854. The last paper he published, in the American Journal of Sciences, 1883, was "On the peculiar concretions in meteoric iron." Smith served as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1872) and of the American Chemical Society (1877). Smith purchased a collection of meteorites that had belonged to Gerard Troost of Nashville, Tennessee, and extended it by collecting specimens from all over the world. He attempted to obtain specimens from as many different meteoric falls as possible. His collection was estimated to contain specimens from about two hundred and fifty falls, with a combined weight of around twenty-five hundred pounds, He wished his collection to be kept together, and after his death it became the property of Harvard College.

References

External links

J. Lawrence Smith at Find a Grave

Illustrations

J. Lawrence Smith (chemist) illustration

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with J. Lawrence Smith (chemist)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what J. Lawrence Smith (chemist) 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 J. Lawrence Smith (chemist) 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 J. Lawrence Smith (chemist) 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 J. Lawrence Smith (chemist)

In research: J. Lawrence Smith (chemist) 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 J. Lawrence Smith (chemist) 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: J. Lawrence Smith (chemist) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1818 births, 1883 deaths, 19th-century American chemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for J. Lawrence Smith (chemist) 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 J. Lawrence Smith (chemist) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what J. Lawrence Smith (chemist) 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.
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Frequently asked questions

What is J. Lawrence Smith (chemist) in simple terms?

Why does J. Lawrence Smith (chemist) 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 J. Lawrence Smith (chemist)?

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 J. Lawrence Smith (chemist).