chemistry

Jeffrey Wigand

Jeffrey Wigand 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 Jeffrey Wigand rather than just read about it. In short: Jeffrey Stephen Wigand (; born December 17, 1942) is an American biochemist and tobacco industry whistleblower. He is a former vice president of research and development at Brown & Williamson in Louisville, Kentucky, who worked on the development of reduced-harm cigarettes and in 1996 exposed tobacco tampering at the company.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Jeffrey Stephen Wigand (; born December 17, 1942) is an American biochemist and tobacco industry whistleblower. He is a former vice president of research and development at Brown & Williamson in Louisville, Kentucky, who worked on the development of reduced-harm cigarettes and in 1996 exposed tobacco tampering at the company. This was adapted for 1999 film The Insider, with Russell Crowe portraying Wigand. He currently lectures around the world and serves as a consultant for various tobacco issues.

Early life, military service and education Wigand was born in New York City and grew up in the Bronx and later Pleasant Valley, New York. After a brief time in the military (including a short assignment in Vietnam), he earned a Master's and a PhD from the University at Buffalo in Biochemistry.

Career

Prior to working for Brown & Williamson, Wigand worked for several health care companies, including Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson. In addition, he was employed as General Manager and marketing director at Union Carbide in Japan, and as a senior vice president at Technicon Instruments.

Tobacco industry whistleblowing In late 1995, Mississippi subpoenaed Wigand to testify in the state's lawsuit against thirteen major tobacco companies ('Big Tobacco'). The state contended the companies' products led to the tobacco-related deaths of Mississippi residents. The state sued because it had to spend state funds to treat their illnesses. Wigand later became famous as a whistleblower when he appeared on the CBS news program 60 Minutes on February 4, 1996. He stated that Brown & Williamson had intentionally manipulated its tobacco blend with chemicals such as ammonia to increase the effect of nicotine in cigarette smoke. According to Wigand, he was subsequently harassed and received anonymous death threats. Wigand had begun to work for Brown & Williamson in January 1989. He was fired on March 24, 1993. He says that he was fired as a whistleblower because he knew that high-ranking corporate executives knowingly approved the addition of additives to their cigarettes that were known to be carcinogenic and/or addictive, such as coumarin. Brown & Williamson undertook a concerted effort to discredit Wigand, which included hiring Terry Lenzner's company Investigative Group International to produce a 500-page dossier on Wigand, which was distributed to the media. The dossier backfired, as news outlets examined the claims in it, finding many claims of misconduct to be unsubstantiated or trivial.

Post-whistleblowing career Wigand later taught physical science, biology and Japanese at DuPont Manual Magnet High School in Louisville, Kentucky, where he was named the 1996 Teacher of the Year for the state of Kentucky. Wigand no longer teaches high school and instead lectures worldwide to a variety of audiences including children, college, medical and law students, and a diverse group of policy makers. He has consulted with governments throughout the world on tobacco control policies.

Media depictions He was portrayed by Russell Crowe in the 1999 film The Insider directed by Michael Mann. Crowe was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Wigand.

Personal life He met his first wife, Linda, in 1970 while attending a judo class. Wigand is now married to Hope Elizabeth May, an American philosopher, author, and lawyer who is a professor at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, where they both now reside. They met when May requested he speak for a university event.

References

External links From Knowledge to Action: An Interview With Dr. Jeffrey Wigand January 12, 2010 An Interview with Dr. Jeffrey Wigand: Part 2 January 19, 2010 Newslaundry Interviews - Dr Jeffrey Wigand

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Jeffrey Wigand

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Jeffrey Wigand 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 Jeffrey Wigand 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 Jeffrey Wigand 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 Jeffrey Wigand

In research: Jeffrey Wigand 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 Jeffrey Wigand 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: Jeffrey Wigand is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1942 births, American biochemists, American business executives in the tobacco industry, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Jeffrey Wigand 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 Jeffrey Wigand in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Jeffrey Wigand in simple terms?

Why does Jeffrey Wigand 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 Jeffrey Wigand?

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 Jeffrey Wigand.