chemistry

Martha Austin Phelps

Martha Austin Phelps 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 Martha Austin Phelps rather than just read about it. In short: Martha Austin Phelps was an American chemist who conducted research in measuring metal concentrations and developed several analytical protocols to do so. She also worked on the early development of ester synthesis.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Martha Austin Phelps was an American chemist who conducted research in measuring metal concentrations and developed several analytical protocols to do so. She also worked on the early development of ester synthesis. In between conducting research, she worked as school teacher teaching chemistry and physics. She finished her career as an activist in women's academic clubs. Her chemistry career lasted approximately 10 years, resulting in 15 publications, which set her apart as one of the most skilled female chemists within the first generation of women chemists in the United States.

Biography Martha was born in Georgia, Vermont on February 13, 1870. She grew up in Easthampton, Massachusetts where she graduated high school. She earned her B.S. degree from Smith College in 1892. Prior to enrolling in graduate school at Yale University, she taught as a science teacher in New York and Massachusetts. She started graduate school in 1896 and graduated with her Ph.D. in chemistry in 1898. After completing her Ph.D., she continued working for her Ph.D. advisor, Andrew Gooch in the Kent Chemistry Laboratory for one year and then transferred to the Rhode Island Experiment Station where she worked as an assistant chemist in 1900. From 1901 to 1904, she went back to being a science teacher and taught chemistry and physics at Wilson College. In 1904, she also married Issac King Phelps, who was working as a chemistry instructor at Yale and George Washington University at the time. In 1908, the couple moved to Washington D.C. where Martha went to work for the Bureau of Standards as a chemistry researcher and Issac went to work for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Martha ceased working as researcher in 1909. Martha was one of the first female scientists to be employed by the Bureau of Standards. After 1909, she began her activist work in women's education clubs until retirement. Martha and Issac lived in Washington D.C until 1923, until they moved to New Haven, Connecticut where Martha eventually died on March 15, 1933.

Work in Science Martha spent much of her scientific career interested in the quantitative analysis of various elements. Specifically, she studied the composition of ammonium phosphates in magnesium, zinc, and cadmium. Her study of ammonium phosphates was later used as a tool in her later analytical work. Martha spent much of her research career developing several analytical procedures for metal estimations and separations, with a special focus on gravimetric estimations of manganese and magnesium. Her other work included the analysis of prehistoric bronzes without major disruption to the metal composition and the study of organic esters. While in graduate school at Yale, she worked for Andrew Gooch in the Kent Chemical Laboratory. Throughout her time in graduate school, she published nine papers in the American Journal of Science and in Zeitschrift für anorganische und allgemeine Chemie for her work in analytical chemistry. Four of the nine papers she published individually and the other five in collaboration with Gooch. After her marriage to Issac King Phelps in 1904, she collaborated with her husband to study ester synthesis. The work resulted in six more publications. In total, she published fifteen papers throughout the span of her ten-year career as a chemist.

Martha's work is primarily recognized for her development of a protocol estimating arsenic as ammonium magnesium arsenate. The paper detailing the procedure was published in 1900. The protocol became a standard method of arsenic estimation in quantitative analysis studies and was written into textbooks for several years.

Awards From 1897 to 1898, she was granted a graduate scholarship to pursue her PhD. Upon completion of her PhD, she was granted one of Yale's University Fellowships to continue work in Gooch's laboratory until 1899.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Martha Austin Phelps

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Martha Austin Phelps 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 Martha Austin Phelps 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 Martha Austin Phelps 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 Martha Austin Phelps

In research: Martha Austin Phelps 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 Martha Austin Phelps 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: Martha Austin Phelps is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1870 births, 1933 deaths, Analytical chemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Martha Austin Phelps 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 Martha Austin Phelps in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Martha Austin Phelps 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.
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Frequently asked questions

What is Martha Austin Phelps in simple terms?

Why does Martha Austin Phelps 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 Martha Austin Phelps?

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 Martha Austin Phelps.