science

Norman Farnsworth

Norman Farnsworth is a science 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 Norman Farnsworth rather than just read about it. In short: Norman Robert Farnsworth (March 23, 1930 – September 20, 2011) was a pharmacognosist, professor, and author. Early life and education He received his bachelor's in 1953 and master's in 1955 in pharmacy at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, and his Ph.D. in Pharmacognosy from the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy in 1959, where he helped establish the Pharmacognosy Department, became its first chair, an…

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Norman Robert Farnsworth (March 23, 1930 – September 20, 2011) was a pharmacognosist, professor, and author.

Early life and education He received his bachelor's in 1953 and master's in 1955 in pharmacy at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, and his Ph.D. in Pharmacognosy from the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy in 1959, where he helped establish the Pharmacognosy Department, became its first chair, and taught until 1970.

Military service An army veteran of the Korean War, Farnsworth served as a Private First Class and eventually as a Corporal in the Third Infantry Division, Seventh Regimental Combat Team, nicknamed the "Fire Brigade" in Korea. He was seriously wounded in the winter of 1950. Because of his service during the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, he received the Bronze Star Medal with a "V" device, which is the U. S. military's fourth-highest award for valor. He was also awarded four oak leaf clusters, representative of four additional awards of the Bronze Star medal, the Combat Medical Badge, and the Korean Ribbon with Four Battle Stars.

Career He was a founding member of the American Society of Pharmacognosy in 1959. He was also the founding director of the Program for Collaborative Research in the Pharmaceutical Sciences at University of Illinois at Chicago. From 1970 to 1982, he was the head of the Department of Pharmacognosy and Pharmacology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. In 1974, he traveled to China with the American Herbal Pharmacology Delegation, where they studied the practice of traditional Chinese herbal medicine. Afterwards, the National Academy of Sciences published "Herbal Pharmacology in the People’s Republic of China." When computers were first coming onto the scene, Farnsworth created Natural Products Alert (NAPRALERT) in 1975. The NAPRALERT database was the first computerized collection on the research and science of natural products. Farnsworth was a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Advisory Panel on Traditional Medicine. He was also the director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Traditional Medicine Programme at UIC's College of Pharmacy. A pioneer in the field of pharmacognosy, Dr. Farnsworth was an honorary member of the American Society of Pharmacognosy, an honorary member of the Society for Economic botany, an honorary member of the International Society for Ethnopharmacology, an honorary member of the French Pharmacognosy Society, and a member of the Japanese Society of Pharmacognosy. He also received three honorary doctorates from University of Paris V (René Descartes), Uppsala University in Sweden, and his alma mater, the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Allied Sciences. In 2005, the American Society of Pharmacognosy awarded him their Research Achievement Award.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Norman Farnsworth

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

In research: Norman Farnsworth appears in science 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 Norman Farnsworth 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: Norman Farnsworth is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1930 births, 2011 deaths, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences alumni, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Norman Farnsworth 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 Norman Farnsworth in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Norman Farnsworth in simple terms?

Norman Robert Farnsworth (March 23, 1930 – September 20, 2011) was a pharmacognosist, professor, and author. Early life and education He received his bachelor's in 1953 and master's in 1955 in pharmacy at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, and his Ph.D. in Pharmacognosy from the University of P…

Why does Norman Farnsworth matter?

Because it connects several science 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 Norman Farnsworth?

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 Norman Farnsworth.