chemistry

Mary Elizabeth Hickox Mandels

Mary Elizabeth Hickox Mandels 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 Mary Elizabeth Hickox Mandels rather than just read about it. In short: Mary Elizabeth Hickox Mandels (September 12, 1917 – February 17, 2008) was an American scientist. Mandels was an early advocate for converting waste biomass to fuels and chemicals.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Mary Elizabeth Hickox Mandels (September 12, 1917 – February 17, 2008) was an American scientist. Mandels was an early advocate for converting waste biomass to fuels and chemicals. She worked for forty years at the head of the US Army's national bioconversion studies.

Early life Mary Elizabeth Hickox was born to Sherman Gray and Mary Bolger Hickox in Middletown Springs, Vermont. Her family moved to Waterbury, Connecticut, where she lived with her parents and four siblings during the Great Depression.

Education Hickox was accepted to study at Cornell University in 1939, but her father had to be persuaded by her science teacher that she should attend. Fully behind her after his initial doubts, he insisted that she complete her education after the death of her mother, rather than return home to care for her siblings. Hickox' university career was interrupted by World War II and she completed her studies in 1947. Whilst at Cornell, she met and married Gabriel Mandels, becoming Mary Elizabeth Hickox Mandels.

Career In 1955, Mandels began her research at the US Army Natick Laboratories. Mandel played a key role in clarifying the numerous components of the cellulase enzyme complex in moulds that had the ability to break down crystalline cellulose. Mandels moved to the Food Science Laboratory in 1962, where she researched food production in "hostile" environments such as battlefields, Antarctica, or even space. Possibilities included single cell protein fermenter products and cellulolytic microbes. In 1971 Mandels moved to the Bioengineering, Science and Advanced Technology Laboratory, and when Elwyn Reese retired in 1972 she became the head of this group. In the early 1970s the oil crisis prompted Mandels and her team to focus their research upon the possibilities of using cellulose as an energy resource. It was essential to be able to measure cellulase activity, and Mandels developed an assay to predict the quantity of enzyme required. Subsequently, her paper 'Measurement of saccharifying cellulase' was the most cited paper in the journal Biotechnology for Biofuels in 1988, when it had been cited by over 330 publications.

References

Illustrations

Mary Elizabeth Hickox Mandels illustration

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mary Elizabeth Hickox Mandels

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mary Elizabeth Hickox Mandels 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 Mary Elizabeth Hickox Mandels 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 Mary Elizabeth Hickox Mandels 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 Mary Elizabeth Hickox Mandels

In research: Mary Elizabeth Hickox Mandels 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 Mary Elizabeth Hickox Mandels 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: Mary Elizabeth Hickox Mandels is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1917 births, 2008 deaths, 20th-century American chemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mary Elizabeth Hickox Mandels 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 Mary Elizabeth Hickox Mandels in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Mary Elizabeth Hickox Mandels in simple terms?

Mary Elizabeth Hickox Mandels (September 12, 1917 – February 17, 2008) was an American scientist. Mandels was an early advocate for converting waste biomass to fuels and chemicals.

Why does Mary Elizabeth Hickox Mandels 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 Mary Elizabeth Hickox Mandels?

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 Mary Elizabeth Hickox Mandels.