physics

Jack Goldman

Jack Goldman is a physics 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 Jack Goldman rather than just read about it. In short: Jacob E. "Jack" Goldman (July 18, 1921 – December 20, 2011) was an American physicist and former chief scientist of Xerox Corporation. He was also a faculty member at Carnegie Tech and directed the Ford Scientific Laboratory.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Jacob E. "Jack" Goldman (July 18, 1921 – December 20, 2011) was an American physicist and former chief scientist of Xerox Corporation. He was also a faculty member at Carnegie Tech and directed the Ford Scientific Laboratory. He is especially notable for hiring physicist Dr. George Pake to create the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, which produced many seminal ideas in modern computing. Goldman was born in Brooklyn, New York, and died in Westport, Connecticut. Among the projects that Goldman worked on at Ford in the 1960s was the sodium–sulfur battery for electric cars. After narrowly surviving a fiery crash of his gasoline-powered Lincoln, Goldman quipped "I guess I proved gasoline is more dangerous than a sodium–sulfur battery." Jack Goldman died from congestive heart failure on December 20, 2011.

References

External links MIT Enterprise Forum biography Belarc biography Cnet News Obituary Markhoff, John (December 21, 2011), "Jacob Goldman, Founder of Xerox Lab, Dies at 90", The New York Times PC Mag Obituary

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Jack Goldman

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

In research: Jack Goldman appears in physics 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 Jack Goldman 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: Jack Goldman is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1921 births, 2011 deaths, American physicist stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Jack Goldman 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 Jack Goldman in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Jack Goldman in simple terms?

Why does Jack Goldman matter?

Because it connects several physics 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 Jack Goldman?

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 Jack Goldman.