earth science

Katharine W. Carman

Katharine W. Carman is a earth science 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 Katharine W. Carman rather than just read about it. In short: Katharine Woodley Carman (1906 – 2008) was an American petroleum geologist. In a 1938 profile, she was described as "the only woman geologist in the United States employed by an oil company to work in the field exploring for oil".

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Katharine Woodley Carman (1906 – 2008) was an American petroleum geologist. In a 1938 profile, she was described as "the only woman geologist in the United States employed by an oil company to work in the field exploring for oil".

Early life and education Carman was born in New York City, and raised in Colorado and in Evanston, Illinois, the daughter of George Washington Carman and Ruth Anne (Woodley) Carman. Her father was president of an investment brokerage; her mother was a Northwestern University graduate. She graduated from Evanston High School in 1923 and from Wellesley College in 1927. She completed a PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1933, with a dissertation titled "The Shallow-Water Foraminifera of Bermuda."

Career Carman was a micropaleontologist in the petroleum industry. She was an analyst for the Petroleum Administration Board from 1934 to 1936, and was based in Texas and Nebraska as a geologist for the Felmont Corporation from 1936 to 1939. She was exploration manager for North Central Oil Corporation from 1939 to 1941. In 1943, she returned to the Petroleum Administration for wartime planning and economic analysis. Her expertise was cited and her testimony was read into the record of several Congressional committees, including a 1942 Senate hearing on mineral resources and public lands. Carman was the Illinois district geologist for the Great Lakes Carbon Corporation from 1943 to 1946. Beginning in 1946, she was a partner in the Buckhorn Oil Company, based in Indiana. She lived in Colorado in the 1950s.

Publications "Some Foraminifera from the Niobrara and Benton formations of Wyoming" (1929)

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Katharine W. Carman

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Katharine W. Carman claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, 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 Katharine W. Carman 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 Katharine W. Carman 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 Katharine W. Carman

In research: Katharine W. Carman appears in earth science 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 Katharine W. Carman 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: Katharine W. Carman is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1906 births, 2008 deaths, American geologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Katharine W. Carman 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 Katharine W. Carman in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Katharine W. Carman in simple terms?

Why does Katharine W. Carman matter?

Because it connects several earth science 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 Katharine W. Carman?

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 Katharine W. Carman.