chemistry

Merle Battiste

Merle Battiste 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 Merle Battiste rather than just read about it. In short: Merle A. Battiste (July 22, 1933 – August 8, 2009) was an American chemist and emeritus professor of chemistry at the University of Florida.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Merle A. Battiste (July 22, 1933 – August 8, 2009) was an American chemist and emeritus professor of chemistry at the University of Florida.

Early life and education Battiste was born on July 22, 1933, in Mobile, Alabama. His parents were David Theodore Battiste (1895-1987) and Flossie Mae Battiste (nee Older) (1897-1957). Battiste was the youngest of four siblings: one which died at infancy (1917-1917), Marion Theodore Battiste (1918-1988), James Melvin Battiste (Mildred), and Marie Wilson. He attended Murphy High School. Battiste received a B.S. degree from The Citadel, Military College of South Carolina, an M.S. degree in organic chemistry from Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge, under Prof. J. G. Traynham, and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Columbia University in 1959. He was Ronald Breslow’s first Ph.D. student.

Career After conducting postdoctoral research (1960) with Saul Winstein at the University of California, Los Angeles, and after a short stint in the army, he joined the faculty at the University of Florida where he remained as a professor of organic chemistry for 42 years, until his retirement in 2004. Battiste's research focused on the synthesis of novel molecular structures. He published over 130 peer-reviewed papers in organic chemistry and was known as a dedicated, passionate teacher. As a passionate teacher, he convinced one of his research assistants, future Nobel Laureate Robert H. Grubbs, to study organic chemistry rather than agriculture science.

Personal life Battiste died at his home Gainesville, Florida, on August 8, 2009. Battiste loved gardening and he was member of the Gainesville Camellia Society for many years.

Awards and honors Battiste was a Sloan Fellow, a Fulbright Research Scholar, and an Erskine Fellow. He was also an emeritus member of American Chemical Society, joining in 1959. The University of Florida created the Battiste Award in Synthetic Chemistry. Originally established in 2005 as the Petra Award for Creative Work in Synthetic Organic Chemistry, the award name was changed in 2007 to honor Professor Battiste.

Memberships 1959: American Chemical Society Fulbright Research Scholar Erskine Fellow

References

External links "Robert H. Grubbs - Biographical, Nobel Prize". The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2005. NobelPrize.org.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Merle Battiste

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Merle Battiste 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 Merle Battiste 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 Merle Battiste 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 Merle Battiste

In research: Merle Battiste 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 Merle Battiste 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: Merle Battiste is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1933 births, 2009 deaths, 20th-century American chemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Merle Battiste 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 Merle Battiste in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Merle Battiste in simple terms?

Merle A. Battiste (July 22, 1933 – August 8, 2009) was an American chemist and emeritus professor of chemistry at the University of Florida.

Why does Merle Battiste 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 Merle Battiste?

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 Merle Battiste.