chemistry

John Knox (chemist)

John Knox (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 Knox (chemist) rather than just read about it. In short: John Henderson Knox FRS (1927 – 15 October 2018) was a Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh and is considered a distinguished contributor to the fields of reaction kinetics and chromatography. Contributions to chemistry John Knox was an early leader in the field of gas chromatography.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

John Henderson Knox FRS (1927 – 15 October 2018) was a Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh and is considered a distinguished contributor to the fields of reaction kinetics and chromatography.

Contributions to chemistry John Knox was an early leader in the field of gas chromatography. As a PhD student in at Pembroke College, Cambridge, in 1953 Knox, together with his fellow student Howard Purnell, constructed a self-designed gas chromatographer in their lab and used this to pioneer early research in the field. In later experiments Knox was the first to use gas chromatography to measure rate of reaction constants for gaseous chemical reactions. This work enabled greater understanding of mechanisms of combustion and chlorination reactions in science. During a sabbatical with Prof JC Giddings in Utah in 1964, Knox was introduced to column liquid chromatography. Back home in 1969, he published a landmark paper with Mohammed Saleem, which suggested that the highest speed in liquid chromatography would be obtained by using 2 micron porous particles. In the 1970s Knox and his Edinburgh research group invented new micro-particulate packing materials for liquid chromatography, now marketed under the trade name Hypersil. He also invented porous graphitic carbon (now Hypercarb), creating an alternative packing material to silica gels for the industry. Knox's work over this period included development of the Knox Equation, now used commonly to describe the spreading of a solute into bands in liquid chromatography. John Knox was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1971 and a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1984. Knox was awarded the Golay Medal for Capillary Chromatography in 2000. Since 2008 the Royal Society of Chemistry's Separation Science Group has honoured his contributions with the Knox Award to recognise individuals for influential work in the field.

Contributions to yachting In retirement John Knox pursued his lifelong interest in yachting, applying scientific rigour to the field of anchoring. He invented the Anchorwatch, a strain gauge which measures the force on an anchor chain, in order to alert crew when their anchor is at risk of slipping during a stormy night. Knox used the Anchorwatch device to establish a testing procedure for measuring an anchor's holding force, and conducted years of experiments on Scotland's beaches to measure the efficiency of most anchor designs available on the global market. His work on anchor testing culminated in the design of his own optimised Knox Anchor, now commercially manufactured in the UK.

Personal life John Knox celebrated 60 years of marriage to his wife Josephine in March 2017. He died on 15 October 2018 in Edinburgh, aged 90. He is survived by his wife, four sons, 12 grandchildren, and 4 great-grandchildren.

References

Worked examples

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

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

In research: John Knox (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 Knox (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 Knox (chemist) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1927 births, 2018 deaths, Academics of the University of Edinburgh, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for John Knox (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 Knox (chemist) in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is John Knox (chemist) in simple terms?

Why does John Knox (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 Knox (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 Knox (chemist).