chemistry

Leslie Bretherick

Leslie Bretherick 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 Leslie Bretherick rather than just read about it. In short: Leslie Bretherick (1926–2003) was a chemist and an “internationally recognized authority on laboratory safety” especially remembered for writing the book which became Bretherick's Handbook of Reactive Chemical Hazards, an indexed guide to published data on dangerous chemical reactions. An obituary said “His contributions have improved the lives of countless millions, and I will aver, have saved the lives of thousand…

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Leslie Bretherick (1926–2003) was a chemist and an “internationally recognized authority on laboratory safety” especially remembered for writing the book which became Bretherick's Handbook of Reactive Chemical Hazards, an indexed guide to published data on dangerous chemical reactions. An obituary said “His contributions have improved the lives of countless millions, and I will aver, have saved the lives of thousands”.

Life Bretherick was born in 1926 and received a BSc from the University of Liverpool in 1946 He worked for May & Baker from 1945 to 1960, where a personal injury and a near-miss provoked his lifelong interest in the prevention of chemical accidents. He then had two years in chemical production at L. Light & Co before moving to BP Research Centre, Sunbury-on-Thames, in 1962 where he stayed till his early retirement in 1982. It was there that he produced his magnum opus, nearly 1000 pages summarizing published literature on chemical accidents and dangerous reactions, organised by individual compound in 1975. A second edition followed in 1979. As well as corrections and additional reactions, this contained a new section dealing with groups of compounds and some other matters. A third edition followed in 1985, Bretherick having retired in 1982 in order to work full-time on the project. In the preface to the 4th edition (1989) he announced that his eyesight was failing. As a result, he did not contribute new material to further editions, which was done by others. The fourth edition onwards were titled Bretherick’s Handbook of Reactive Chemical Hazards. In 1988, Bretherick received the American Chemical Society (ACS) Chemical Health and Safety Award for his outstanding contributions in the field of chemical health and safety. He was a Chartered Chemist and Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). He also edited a RSC handbook on chemical laboratory hazards, as well as numerous articles on chemical safety. He was selected as one of the RSC’s “175 Faces of Chemistry” noting that his achievements were made despite poor eyesight (and eventual near blindness) and a stammer (he was an active member of the British Stammering Association). He was a member of the Macular Disease Society. He died in April 2003, survived by his wife, Margaret.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Leslie Bretherick

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Leslie Bretherick 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 Leslie Bretherick 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 Leslie Bretherick 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 Leslie Bretherick

In research: Leslie Bretherick 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 Leslie Bretherick 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: Leslie Bretherick is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1926 births, 2003 deaths, Alumni of the University of Liverpool, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Leslie Bretherick 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 Leslie Bretherick in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Leslie Bretherick in simple terms?

Why does Leslie Bretherick 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 Leslie Bretherick?

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 Leslie Bretherick.