chemistry

John Corbett (chemist)

John Corbett (chemist) 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 Corbett (chemist) rather than just read about it. In short: John Dudley Corbett (March 23, 1926 – September 2, 2013) was an American chemist who specialized in inorganic solid-state chemistry. At Iowa State and Ames Lab, Corbett lead a research group that focused on the synthesis and characterization of two broad classes of materials, notably Zintl phases and condensed transition metal halide clusters.

Key takeaways

John Corbett (chemist) 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 Corbett (chemist) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of John Corbett (chemist) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

John Dudley Corbett (March 23, 1926 – September 2, 2013) was an American chemist who specialized in inorganic solid-state chemistry. At Iowa State and Ames Lab, Corbett lead a research group that focused on the synthesis and characterization of two broad classes of materials, notably Zintl phases and condensed transition metal halide clusters. Both classes of materials are important for their uses, for instance thermoelectrics, and for the theoretical advances they made possible by working to understand their complex bonding and electronic properties.

Career After graduating from Yakima High School, serving in the United States Navy until the end of World War II, and attending the North Dakota Teachers College, the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and the University of Washington, Corbett remained at Washington to complete his Ph.D. in 1952. He joined the chemistry faculty of Iowa State University and the scientific staff of Ames Laboratory in 1953. He was affiliated with both institutions for his entire career, and served as chair of the Department of Chemistry between 1968 and 1973. He was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was awarded two DOE Awards for Outstanding Scientific Accomplishments and Sustained Research in Materials Chemistry, the Humboldt Prize (1985), the 2005 Spedding Award from the Rare Earth Research Conference, the 2008 Monie A. Ferst Award from Sigma Xi, and several ACS Awards for both Inorganic Chemistry and Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Inorganic Chemistry. He was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1992.

Personal life Corbett was born to parents Alexander and Elizabeth Corbett in Yakima, Washington, on March 23, 1926, and had two brothers. He was married to F. Irene Lienkaemper from 1948 until her death in 1996. The couple raised three children. Corbett died on September 2, 2013, at the age of 87, following a stroke. The John D. Corbett Professorship was established in 2007, within Iowa State University's Department of Chemistry.

References

External links Ames Lab homepage Iowa State University

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with John Corbett (chemist)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what John Corbett (chemist) 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 Corbett (chemist) 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 Corbett (chemist) 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 Corbett (chemist)

In research: John Corbett (chemist) 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 Corbett (chemist) 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 Corbett (chemist) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1926 births, 2013 deaths, American inorganic chemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for John Corbett (chemist) 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 Corbett (chemist) in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is John Corbett (chemist) in simple terms?

Why does John Corbett (chemist) 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 Corbett (chemist)?

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 Corbett (chemist).