chemistry

John Brown Francis Herreshoff

John Brown Francis Herreshoff 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 John Brown Francis Herreshoff rather than just read about it. In short: John Brown Francis Herreshoff (February 7, 1850 – January 30, 1932) was an American chemist and the second winner of the Perkin Medal. He was also the president of The General Chemical Company.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

John Brown Francis Herreshoff (February 7, 1850 – January 30, 1932) was an American chemist and the second winner of the Perkin Medal. He was also the president of The General Chemical Company.

Career Herreshoff was a metallurgical chemist affiliated with the firm of Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, builders of yachts and torpedo boats. Herreshoff was hired by G. H. Nichols and Company in 1880 or 1882. He invented and built for them a water-jacketed furnace, and quickly became a partner in the company. Others built according to his smelter plans furnaces up to 100 tons in 1890. He was greatly interested in obtaining copper from pyrite ore. In 1890, Herreshoff developed a form of the contact catalytic process for the company of which he was a partner. In 1892 the Herreshoff process went into large-scale industrial production, and "Nichols Lake Substitute" copper was henceforth a competitor to the "Lake Superior" copper standard of the US Bureau of Mines. By 1895 the Nichols Company was producing high-purity blister copper, cast as bars, ingots and wire. Herreshoff was made the president of The General Chemical Company, which was founded in 1899 and merged in 1920 with Allied Corporation. In 1900 Herreshoff was made vice-president of the Nichols Copper Company. In 1908 Herreshoff received the Perkin Medal, an award conferred annually by the American section of the Society of Chemical Industry to a scientist residing in America for an "innovation in applied chemistry resulting in outstanding commercial development". It is one of the highest honors given in the U.S. chemical industry.

Patents

Personal life Herreshoff was born February 7, 1850, in Bristol, Rhode Island, to Charles Frederick Herreshoff III (1809–1888) and Julia Ann Lewis (maiden; 1811–1901). John Brown Francis Herreshoff was married four times. He first married – on February 9, 1876 – Grace Eugenia Dyer (maiden; 1851–1880), with whom he had a daughter, the painter Louise Chamberlain Herreshoff (1876–1967). After Dyer's death, he married – on October 25, 1882, in Philadelphia – Emaline Duval ("Mildred") Lee (maiden; 1863–1930). From that marriage, he had two sons and a daughter. One of the sons, Frederick Herreshoff (1888–1920), became a noted American amateur golfer. Through his daughter from that marriage, Sarah Lothrop Herreshoff (1889–1958), he is the grandfather of the Italian painter Guido Borgianni (1914–2011). Herreshoff and Lee divorced June 4, 1919, in Manhattan. Five days later, on June 9, 1919, Herreshoff married Carrie Lucas Ridley (maiden; 1878–1924), her second. On October 5, 1924 (six months after Carrie's death), Herreshoff married Carrie's sister, Irma Grey Ridley (1872–1946). Herreshoff died January 30, 1932, at the home of his daughter in New York City.

References

External links Works by or about John Brown Francis Herreshoff at the Internet Archive

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with John Brown Francis Herreshoff

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what John Brown Francis Herreshoff 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 John Brown Francis Herreshoff 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 John Brown Francis Herreshoff 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 John Brown Francis Herreshoff

In research: John Brown Francis Herreshoff 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 John Brown Francis Herreshoff 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: John Brown Francis Herreshoff is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1850 births, 1932 deaths, American chemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for John Brown Francis Herreshoff 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 John Brown Francis Herreshoff in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what John Brown Francis Herreshoff 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.
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Frequently asked questions

What is John Brown Francis Herreshoff in simple terms?

John Brown Francis Herreshoff (February 7, 1850 – January 30, 1932) was an American chemist and the second winner of the Perkin Medal. He was also the president of The General Chemical Company.

Why does John Brown Francis Herreshoff 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 John Brown Francis Herreshoff?

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 John Brown Francis Herreshoff.