astronomy

Kenneth Olden

Kenneth Olden is a astronomy 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 Kenneth Olden rather than just read about it. In short: Kenneth Olden is a scientist whose research revolves around diseases, such as cancers, and how chemicals and environmental factors affect them. He was director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and National Toxicology Program, being the first African-American to head an National Institutes of Health (NIH) institute, a position he held from 1991 to 2005.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Kenneth Olden is a scientist whose research revolves around diseases, such as cancers, and how chemicals and environmental factors affect them. He was director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and National Toxicology Program, being the first African-American to head an National Institutes of Health (NIH) institute, a position he held from 1991 to 2005. He was also the director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and overseer of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). He is a scientist who expressed that socioeconomic factors are related to cancer survival rates and need to be given more attention in scientific research. He has made multiple discoveries in the field, such as finding that the sweetener saccharin is not a chemical that causes cancer and funding research on the effects of bus exhaust on minority children in low-income housing residing in New York City. He faced controversy from multiple organizations over slow assessments during his time overseeing IRIS. He is currently 85 years old.

Early life Kenneth Olden was born in Parrottsville, Tennessee, on July 22, 1938. He attended Tanner High School, a segregated school and was inspired by the school's principal to attend college. He graduated from Tanner in 1956, and he worked hard shining shoes in order to pay tuition and get into Knoxville College. He graduated in 1960 with a B.S. in biology and a minor in chemistry, and moved on to University of Michigan for a genetics program. He later would receive a M.S. in 1964, and then in 1970 receive a doctorate in cell biology and biochemistry from Temple University.

Career Olden joined the National Cancer Institute in its cancer biology division as a senior staff fellow in 1974. He was awarded tenure in 1977 and became the first African-American to be named an independent investigator in the cancer institute. He later became chairman of Howard University's oncology department in 1985, where he focused his work on studying cancers that were prevalent in people of color. In 1991, Olden became the director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and National Toxicology Program, being the first African-American to head an NIH institute. During his 14 years as director, the NIEHS made many research contributions on health problems such cancer and birth defects. Olden was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences for his discovery that blocking interaction between fibronectin and the integrin receptor can prevent organ-specific metastasis of malignant cells. Olden and his team also removed saccharin from causes of human cancer. In July 2012, Olden became director of the National Center for Environmental Assessment, and began to oversee its Integrated Risk Information System. During that time, he and IRIS were criticized for their sluggish pace of assessments by environmental groups, congress and industry. This was mostly due to Olden asking for more input from the chemical industry, delaying the bans on chemicals.

Awards Olden received the Toxicology Forum's Distinguished Fellow Award, the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services's Distinguished Service Award, the American College of Toxicology's First Distinguished Service Award, and the National Minority Health Leadership Award. Former President Bill Clinton also gave him the Presidential Distinguished Executive Rank Award and the Presidential Meritorious Executive Rank Award. Olden also received the Calver Award in 2002, the Sedgwick Medal in 2004, and the Julius B. Richmond Award in 2005.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Kenneth Olden

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Kenneth Olden claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, 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 Kenneth Olden 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 Kenneth Olden 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 Kenneth Olden

In research: Kenneth Olden appears in astronomy 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 Kenneth Olden 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: Kenneth Olden is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1938 births, 21st-century African-American academics, 21st-century African-American scientists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Kenneth Olden 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 Kenneth Olden in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Kenneth Olden in simple terms?

Why does Kenneth Olden matter?

Because it connects several astronomy 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 Kenneth Olden?

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 Kenneth Olden.