chemistry

James B. Thompson Jr.

James B. Thompson Jr. 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 James B. Thompson Jr. rather than just read about it. In short: James Burleigh Thompson Jr. (November 20, 1921 – November 15, 2011) was an American mineralogist and geologist.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

James Burleigh Thompson Jr. (November 20, 1921 – November 15, 2011) was an American mineralogist and geologist. He was known for his research into the thermodynamics of minerals and the relationship to structure. He introduced the term polysomatic series for describing layered structures with chemically distinct layers.

Education and career Thompson studied geology at Dartmouth College, graduating with an AB in 1942. From 1942 to 1946, he worked in the United States Army Air Forces as a weather forecaster. He started graduate school afterwards, studying in geology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and graduated with a PhD in 1950. Thompson was hired at Harvard University as an instructor in petrology in 1949 as a successor of Esper Signius Larsen. He was promoted to assistant professor in the following year to full professorship in 1960. Thompson was named Sturgis Hooper Professor of Geology at Harvard in 1977.

Honors and awards Thompson was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1958, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1967. He was awarded the Arthur L. Day Medal of the Geological Society of America in 1964, the Roebling Medal from the Mineralogical Society of America in 1978, and the V. M. Goldschmidt Award of the Geochemical Society in 1985.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with James B. Thompson Jr.

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what James B. Thompson Jr. 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 James B. Thompson Jr. 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 James B. Thompson Jr. 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 James B. Thompson Jr.

In research: James B. Thompson Jr. 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 James B. Thompson Jr. 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: James B. Thompson Jr. is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1921 births, 2011 deaths, American mineralogists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for James B. Thompson Jr. 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 James B. Thompson Jr. in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is James B. Thompson Jr. in simple terms?

James Burleigh Thompson Jr. (November 20, 1921 – November 15, 2011) was an American mineralogist and geologist.

Why does James B. Thompson Jr. 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 James B. Thompson Jr.?

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 James B. Thompson Jr..