astronomy

Paul B. Weisz

Paul B. Weisz is a astronomy 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 Paul B. Weisz rather than just read about it. In short: Paul Burgan Weisz (July 2, 1919 – September 25, 2012) was a Czechoslovak-born American chemist, noted for his work on solid catalysts, which had a major impact on petroleum refining. Life Weisz was born July 2, 1919, in Plzeň, Czechoslovakia, the son of Alexander and Amalia Weisz.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Paul Burgan Weisz (July 2, 1919 – September 25, 2012) was a Czechoslovak-born American chemist, noted for his work on solid catalysts, which had a major impact on petroleum refining.

Life Weisz was born July 2, 1919, in Plzeň, Czechoslovakia, the son of Alexander and Amalia Weisz. They moved to Berlin and finally emigrated to the United States in 1939. He married and was survived by his wife, Rhoda, his son, Randy, and his daughter, Ingrid. He died on September 25, 2012, in State College, Pennsylvania.

Education Weisz studied physics at the Technische Hochschule in Charlottenburg (now Technische Universität Berlin) and then at the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, where he received a B.S. degree in 1940. He took a sabbatical from work and gained a doctorate at ETH Zurich in 1966.

Work Weisz produced 91 US patents and more than 180 papers, many related to diffusion behavior, which he applied to solid catalysts, dyeing, and the movement of chemicals in cells.

Early career While studying in Berlin, he also worked on Geiger counter instrumentation and cosmic ray measurements at the Institute of Cosmic Radiation Research. After graduating in the US, he carried out further work in these fields at the Bartol Research Foundation of the Franklin Institute and was seconded to MIT to help develop a long-range radio navigation system, LORAN. He also taught part-time at Swarthmore College.

Mobil In 1946, he joined Mobil as a Research Assistant, turning his attention to diffusion and catalysis, eventually rising to become Manager of the Central Research Laboratory, and staying there until his retirement in 1984. It was there that he carried out the work which made him most famous. The development of shape-selective catalysts revolutionized many petroleum refining and chemical processes. A 1960 paper, "Intracrystalline and Molecular-Shape-Selective Catalysis by Zeolite Salts", coauthored with Vince Frilette, a Mobil colleague, became the foundation of shape-selective catalysis (which accelerated certain chemical reactions, but only for molecules of particular shape) and one of his most widely cited papers. Processes based on this and subsequent work were first commercialized in the early 1960s. The company permitted him a sabbatical period from 1964 to 1966 at ETH Zurich, where he earned a doctorate, setting the foundation for some of the fundamental laws of diffusion in dyeing.

Academic career From 1974 to 1976, he was a visiting professor at Princeton University. From 1983 on, he was a distinguished professor of chemical and bio-engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. Since 1993, he has been an adjunct professor in chemical engineering at Pennsylvania State University. In this period, he applied chemical and physical principles to biomedical research, including work with Madeleine M. Joullié on the synthesis of a molecule equivalent to heparin which avoided the dangerous side-effects of the natural molecule.

Honors 1972 E. V. Murphree Award in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, American Chemical Society 1974 Pioneer Award, American Institute of Chemists 1977 Leo Friend Award, American Chemical Society 1977 Elected member, US National Academy of Engineering for “Contributions in pioneering the use of molecular sieves as cracking catalysts for petroleum hydrocarbons.” 1978 R. H. Wilhelm Award, American Institute of Chemical Engineers 1980 Honorary Doctorate (ScD, technological science), ETH Zurich 1983 Lavoisier Medal, Société Chimique de France 1983 Langmuir Distinguished Lecturer Award, American Chemical Society 1985 Perkin Medal, Society of Chemical Industry 1986 Chemistry of Contemporary Technological Problems Award, American Chemical Society 1987 Carothers Award, American Chemical Society 1988 DGKM Kollegium Award (Germany) 1992 US National Medal of Technology and Innovation "For his basic discoveries and management in the field of zeolite catalysis, in conjunction with his colleagues at Mobil Corporation, leading to chemical and petroleum technologies now producing products valued at billions of dollars per year."

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Paul B. Weisz

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Paul B. Weisz claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, 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 Paul B. Weisz 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 Paul B. Weisz 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 Paul B. Weisz

In research: Paul B. Weisz appears in astronomy 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 Paul B. Weisz 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: Paul B. Weisz is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1919 births, 2012 deaths, 20th-century American chemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Paul B. Weisz 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 Paul B. Weisz in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Paul B. Weisz in simple terms?

Paul Burgan Weisz (July 2, 1919 – September 25, 2012) was a Czechoslovak-born American chemist, noted for his work on solid catalysts, which had a major impact on petroleum refining. Life Weisz was born July 2, 1919, in Plzeň, Czechoslovakia, the son of Alexander and Amalia Weisz.

Why does Paul B. Weisz matter?

Because it connects several astronomy 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 Paul B. Weisz?

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 Paul B. Weisz.