science

Joe Betts-LaCroix

Joe Betts-LaCroix is a science 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 Joe Betts-LaCroix rather than just read about it. In short: Jonathan "Joe" Betts-LaCroix (born Jonathan Betts; February 26, 1962) is an American scientist and entrepreneur known for his discoveries in biophysics and for creating the world's smallest personal computer. He is working to optimize medical research priorities in the U.S.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Jonathan "Joe" Betts-LaCroix (born Jonathan Betts; February 26, 1962) is an American scientist and entrepreneur known for his discoveries in biophysics and for creating the world's smallest personal computer. He is working to optimize medical research priorities in the U.S.

Early life and education Joe Betts-LaCroix was born and raised in Oregon. He graduated from school with a D average, then spent the next six years living in a shared house with others whom he described as, "musicians, artists and weirdos". At this time, he did electronics, hardware and software work for local businesses. When his girlfriend went to Harvard, he decided to follow. After getting straight A's at a local college, he transferred to Harvard, where he studied environmental geoscience.

Academics Beginning in earth sciences at Harvard, Betts-LaCroix contributed to the field of long-term regulation of oxygen on Earth over multi-100 Million-year timespans, quantifying the effect of the burial efficiency of organic carbon as a feedback mechanism. At MIT, he designed and built an autonomous, robotic system that enables research into ocean circulation patterns and climate change, by operating untended for up to one year at sea on battery power and collecting hyper-pure water samples at predetermined intervals. In work at Caltech, Betts-LaCroix moved into biophysics, publishing a paper in Science that has been cited by more than 700 subsequent scientific works. In this work, he, along with David Beratan and José Onuchic, proved for the first time that electron-transfer rates in proteins are determined by the electron orbital interactions in the protein structure.

Hardware In 2000, Betts-LaCroix cofounded OQO, a computer hardware and software OEM credited by the Guinness World Records as having created the world's smallest Windows PC. This created a new category of mobile computing devices between PDAs and laptops, which were initially dubbed the "Ultra Personal Computer", and which subsequently became known as the "Netbook". The device won many awards for its innovation, aesthetics and functionality. After OQO, Betts-Lacroix was active in Silicon Valley as a lecturer and mentor for CEOs of start up companies.

Biotechnology & biomedicine Betts-LaCroix has participated in the Quantified Self movement since the beginning, and has given numerous presentations on aspects of self experimentation and tracking, including experiments in the 28-Hour day. In 2010, he joined startup Halcyon Molecular to lead its automation efforts. Halcyon, funded by, among others, Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, attempted to sequence human DNA using electron microscopes. The underlying goal of Halcyon's work was to make meaningful progress in understanding human biology in order to improve medicine. Following the theme of improving medicine, Betts-LaCroix founded the Health Extension Foundation in 2012. The efforts of the people working in Health Extension are motivated by recognizing that

Most healthcare money treats age-related diseases; Aging is the single biggest risk factor for these diseases; But funding to address the biochemical processes of aging is less than 0.01% of healthcare spending—and correcting this missed opportunity to optimally assign medical research and translation priorities. In 2013, Betts-LaCroix cofounded Vium, which has raised $33M to accelerate the development of new medical therapies by automating in-vivo research. Vium launched publicly in 2016, and was later acquired by Recursion in 2020. Betts-LaCroix is also a biotech angel investor in such companies as StemCentrx, Recursion Pharma and Spring Discovery, as well as a part-time contributor at Y Combinator. In 2020, Betts-LaCroix cofounded Retro Biosciences, which emerged out of stealth with $180 million in funding from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to focus on extending healthy human lifespans. Retro works on autophagy, the rejuvenation of blood plasma and on partial cell reprogramming.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Joe Betts-LaCroix

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Joe Betts-LaCroix claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, 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 Joe Betts-LaCroix 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 Joe Betts-LaCroix 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 Joe Betts-LaCroix

In research: Joe Betts-LaCroix appears in science 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 Joe Betts-LaCroix 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: Joe Betts-LaCroix is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1962 births, American scientists, Businesspeople from the San Francisco Bay Area, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Joe Betts-LaCroix 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 Joe Betts-LaCroix in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Joe Betts-LaCroix in simple terms?

Why does Joe Betts-LaCroix matter?

Because it connects several science 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 Joe Betts-LaCroix?

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 Joe Betts-LaCroix.