chemistry

Karen Morse (chemist)

Karen Morse (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 Karen Morse (chemist) rather than just read about it. In short: Karen Dale Williams Morse is an inorganic chemist. She was president of Western Washington University from 1993 until 2008, and was named the Bowman Distinguished Professor in 2014.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Karen Dale Williams Morse is an inorganic chemist. She was president of Western Washington University from 1993 until 2008, and was named the Bowman Distinguished Professor in 2014. She is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Education and career Morse has a B.A. from Denison University (1962), and an M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. During her Ph.D. she worked on Lewis acids. Morse joined the faculty of Utah State University in 1968 in the department of chemistry and biochemistry, and subsequently became the department head, the dean, and was named provost in 1989. In 1993 she moved to Western Washington University where she was president until 2008. In 2014, Morse was named the Bowman Distinguished Professor at Western Washington University. Morse's early research centered on the production and properties of phosphines. She also worked on borohydrides, phosphite, metal-phosphorus compounds, aryl phosphines Morse also led the professional training committee at the American Chemical Society where she expanded on options for recognizing educators who teach chemistry at the undergraduate and high school level.

Selected publications Takusagawa, Fusao; Fumagalli, Alessandro; Koetzle, Thomas F.; Shore, Sheldon G.; Schmitkons, Thomas; Fratini, Albert V.; Morse, Karen W.; Wei, Chiau-Yu; Bau, Robert (1981). "Neutron and x-ray diffraction studies of tris(methyldiphenylphosphine)[tetrahydroborato(1-)]copper, Cu[P(C6H5)2CH3]3(BH4). The first accurate characterization of an unsupported metal-hydrogen-boron bridge bond". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 103 (17): 5165–5171. Bibcode:1981JAChS.103.5165T. doi:10.1021/ja00407a035. ISSN 0002-7863. Morse, Karen W.; Morse, Joseph G. (1973). "Free radical reactions of tetrafluorodiphosphine. Preparation of 1,2-bis(difluorophosphino)ethane". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 95 (25): 8469–8470. Bibcode:1973JAChS..95.8469M. doi:10.1021/ja00806a057. ISSN 0002-7863. Morse, Joseph G.; Morse, Karen W. (1975). "Photoreactions of tetrafluorodiphosphine with nonsubstituted olefins and perfluoroolefins". Inorganic Chemistry. 14 (3): 565–569. doi:10.1021/ic50145a024. ISSN 0020-1669. Fife, Dennis J.; Moore, William M.; Morse, Karen W. (1984). "Solution equilibria of tertiary phosphine complexes of copper(I) halides". Inorganic Chemistry. 23 (12): 1684–1691. doi:10.1021/ic00180a011. ISSN 0020-1669. Bommer, Jerry C.; Morse, Karen W. (1980). "Single hydrogen-boron bridged species: tris(methyldiphenylphosphine) complexes of silver(I) and copper(I) containing tetrahydroborate and (ethoxycarbonyl)trihydroborate". Inorganic Chemistry. 19 (3): 587–593. doi:10.1021/ic50205a003. ISSN 0020-1669.

Awards and honors Morse was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1986. In 1997 she received the Garvan–Olin Medal for scientific accomplishments by a woman chemist from the American Chemical Society. In 2012 Western Washington University named the chemistry building the Karen W. Morse Hall in recognition of her. In 2021, Utah State University awarded her with an honorary doctorate.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Karen Morse (chemist)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Karen Morse (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 Karen Morse (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 Karen Morse (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 Karen Morse (chemist)

In research: Karen Morse (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 Karen Morse (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: Karen Morse (chemist) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 20th-century American chemists, 20th-century American women scientists, 21st-century American chemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Karen Morse (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 Karen Morse (chemist) in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Karen Morse (chemist) in simple terms?

Karen Dale Williams Morse is an inorganic chemist. She was president of Western Washington University from 1993 until 2008, and was named the Bowman Distinguished Professor in 2014.

Why does Karen Morse (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 Karen Morse (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 Karen Morse (chemist).