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Jeannette Brown

Jeannette Brown 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 Jeannette Brown rather than just read about it. In short: Jeannette Elizabeth Brown (born May 13, 1934) is a retired American organic medicinal chemist, historian, and author. Life and education Brown was born in 1934 in The Bronx, New York.

Jeannette Brown — main illustration
Jeannette Brown — illustration

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Jeannette Elizabeth Brown (born May 13, 1934) is a retired American organic medicinal chemist, historian, and author.

Life and education Brown was born in 1934 in The Bronx, New York. According to Brown, when she was young, she contracted tuberculosis, and was treated by Arthur Logan. Logan was a young African-American in his intern year of residency, and lived in Brown's building. Brown's later inspiration to study science came from asking Logan how one could become a doctor. He replied, "Oh, you study science". Brown excelled in particular in chemistry, scoring 98 out of 100 on the New York State Regents chemistry exam. She attended New Dorp High School on Staten Island, and graduated in 1952. Brown earned her bachelor's degree in chemistry at Hunter College in 1956, one of two African Americans in the inaugural class of Hunter's chemistry program. In 1958, she became the first African American woman to achieve a master's degree from the University of Minnesota in organic chemistry. Her master's thesis was entitled "Study of Dye and Ylide Formation in Salts of 9-(p-dimethylaminophenyl) Fluorene."

Chemical research After receiving her master's degree, Brown began work as a research chemist at CIBA Pharmaceutical Company, where she was involved in research programs for drug development targeting tuberculosis and coccidiosis. She moved to Merck in 1969, where she co-authored 15 publications, obtained one patent and contributed to five others. Brown's work focused on synthesizing novel medicinal compounds. She worked to develop the compound cilastatin sodium. Cilastatin is an inhibitor of renal dehydropeptidase. Since the antibiotic, imipenem, is one such antibiotic that is hydrolyzed by dehydropeptidase, cilastatin is used in combination with imipenem to prevent its metabolism. This combination creates the antibiotic Primaxin (imipenem/cilastatin), which is used to treat severe internal infections, as well as diseases caused by flesh-eating bacteria and some types of pneumonia. To succeed in industry, she believed that being an effective communicator, working on a team, and having a strong scientific education in an ever-changing field were essential.

Outreach Brown spent 36 years in research before she switched over to education. From 1993 to 2002 she was a visiting professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, where she also helped recruit black students to enter STEM fields and worked on science education issues in the state. It was here that she also tutored middle school and high school chemistry teachers. She won a grant from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, which she put towards tutoring chemistry teachers. Brown has also devoted significant professional effort to diversity and outreach projects; she served on the National Science Foundation Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women Minorities and Persons with Disabilities and was the historian of the American Chemical Society's Women Chemist Committee. To this day, Brown continues to mentor both middle and high school students through the Freddie and Ada Brown Award. She founded this award in 2010 in honor of her parents.

Work as historian As a historian of science, Brown contributed seven biographical profiles of African American chemists to the African American National Biography Project, which included the first African American women to get their Ph.Ds in chemistry and chemical engineering. She is the author of the 2011 book African American Women Chemists, which profiles early African American women in chemistry. Her second book, African American Women Chemists in the Modern Era, focuses on contemporary women who have benefited from the Civil Rights Act and are now working as chemists or chemical engineers.

Quotations In an interview with the University of Minnesota, Brown advises young women entering the scientific fields to plow ahead despite the inevitable slights that will come their way. “You just got to keep going,” she said. “You can't stop. If you stop, you're not going to get what you want.” “Go straight for a Ph.D. Do not stop at a master's degree,” she said. “If you're a Ph.D., then you're the boss.” "I think working hard and learning new things keeps you young."

Books African American Women Chemists in the Modern Era (2018) African-American Women Chemists (2011)

Awards and honors 1991, elected to Hunter College Hall of Fame 2004, Société de Chimie Industrielle Fellow of the Chemical Heritage Foundation (American Section) 2005, Outstanding Achievement Award recipient, University of Minnesota 2005, National Award for Encouraging Disadvantaged Students into Careers in the Chemical Sciences recipient, American Chemical Society 2007, Association for Women in Science fellow 2009, Glenn E. & Barbara Hodson Ullyot Scholar of the Chemical Heritage Foundation 2009, American Chemical Society fellow in the Division of Professional Relations 2020, Henry Hill Award, American Chemical Society

References

Illustrations

Jeannette Brown illustration

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Jeannette Brown

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Jeannette Brown 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 Jeannette Brown 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 Jeannette Brown 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 Jeannette Brown

In research
Jeannette Brown 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 Jeannette Brown 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
Jeannette Brown is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1934 births, 20th-century African-American scientists, 20th-century African-American women writers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for Jeannette Brown 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 Jeannette Brown in 20 minutes

  1. Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
  2. Close the page and write down what Jeannette Brown means in your own words.
  3. Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
  4. Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
  5. Explain Jeannette Brown out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Jeannette Brown in simple terms?

Jeannette Elizabeth Brown (born May 13, 1934) is a retired American organic medicinal chemist, historian, and author. Life and education Brown was born in 1934 in The Bronx, New York.

Why does Jeannette Brown 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 Jeannette Brown?

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 Jeannette Brown.

Tags

  • 1934 births
  • 20th-century African-American scientists
  • 20th-century African-American women writers
  • 20th-century African-American writers
  • 20th-century American biographers
  • 20th-century American chemists
  • 20th-century American women scientists
  • 20th-century American women writers
  • 21st-century African-American women writers
  • 21st-century African-American writers
  • 21st-century American historians
  • 21st-century American women writers

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