chemistry

John Frank Schairer

John Frank Schairer 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 Frank Schairer rather than just read about it. In short: J. Frank Schairer (13 April 1904, in Rochester, New York – 19 September 1970, near Point No Point, Maryland) was an American geochemist, mineralogist, and petrologist.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

J. Frank Schairer (13 April 1904, in Rochester, New York – 19 September 1970, near Point No Point, Maryland) was an American geochemist, mineralogist, and petrologist. Schairer studied chemistry at Yale University with a bachelor's degree in 1925 and a doctorate in 1928. He was the president and one of the organizers of the undergraduate club "Yale Mineralogical Society" in 1923. In addition, he earned an M.S. in mineralogy. From 1927, he was a chemist at the Carnegie Institution Geophysical Laboratory in Washington, D.C. where he remained on the staff until mandatory retirement in 1969, when he became a part-time employee. He worked there with Norman L. Bowen in experimental petrology until Bowen's departure to the University Chicago in 1937. During World War II, the lab worked on military research (erosion in cannon and machine gun barrels). From the 1950s Schairer worked with Hatten Schuyler Yoder and Cecil Edgar Tilley on basalt fusions. Schairer served from 1957 to 1960 as vice president of the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior, in 1944, vice president of the Geological Society of America, in 1960 president of the Geochemical Society and in 1943 president of the Mineralogical Society of America. He was also an accomplished botanist and co-founder of the National Capital Orchid Society (1947). He married in 1940 and upon his death was survived by his widow, two children (twins), and four grandchildren.

Honors and memberships Schairer was elected in 1953 a member of the National Academy of Sciences and in 1968 an honorary member of the Deutsche Mineralogische Gesellschaft (German Mineralogical Society). He received in 1953 the Arthur L. Day Medal and in 1963 the Roebling Medal. In 2012 he was inducted into the Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame for his extensive work in marking (under his leadership over 260 miles from 1928 to 1932 through the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club founded by him). A mineral described by William F. Foshag in 1931 received the name schairerite in his honor.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with John Frank Schairer

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what John Frank Schairer 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 Frank Schairer 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 Frank Schairer 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 Frank Schairer

In research: John Frank Schairer 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 Frank Schairer 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 Frank Schairer is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1904 births, 1970 deaths, 20th-century American chemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for John Frank Schairer 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 Frank Schairer in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is John Frank Schairer in simple terms?

J. Frank Schairer (13 April 1904, in Rochester, New York – 19 September 1970, near Point No Point, Maryland) was an American geochemist, mineralogist, and petrologist.

Why does John Frank Schairer 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 Frank Schairer?

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 Frank Schairer.