biology

Philippe Grandjean (professor)

Philippe Grandjean (professor) is a biology 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 Philippe Grandjean (professor) rather than just read about it. In short: Philippe Grandjean (born 1 March 1950) is a Danish scientist working in environmental medicine. He is the head of the Environmental Medicine Research Unit at the University of Southern Denmark and adjunct professor of environmental health at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Philippe Grandjean (born 1 March 1950) is a Danish scientist working in environmental medicine. He is the head of the Environmental Medicine Research Unit at the University of Southern Denmark and adjunct professor of environmental health at the Harvard School of Public Health. Grandjean is also co-founder and co-editor-in-chief of the journal Environmental Health, and consultant for the National Board of Health in Denmark. He is known for his research into the developmental toxicity and adverse effects of certain environmental chemicals to which children are commonly exposed.

Life, education and career Born in Denmark in 1950, his interest in environmental toxins began as a teenager watching birds and realizing that they were threatened by pesticides. Grandjean obtained his MD in environmental medicine from the University of Copenhagen in 1974 and his PhD in 1979. He began his career conducting field work into mercury poisoning and Minamata disease after seeing a woman with the disease on TV in 1972. This experience led him to spend his career researching neurotoxic substances. Since 1982, Grandjean has been a professor at the University of Southern Denmark and today he also heads their Environmental Medicine Research Unit. From 1994 to 2002 he was adjunct professor at Boston University and since 2003 he has been adjunct professor at Harvard School of Public Health. In 2002, he co-founded the journal Environmental Health and today he is the co-editor-in-chief, along with David Ozonoff of Boston University School of Public Health. Grandjean has authored more than 500 scientific publications and his book Only One Chance: How Environmental Pollution Impairs Brain Development – and How to Protect the Brains of the Next Generation (Danish edition: Kemi på hjernen – går ud over enhver forstand) was published by Oxford University Press in 2013 (ISBN 978-0199985388). He also features in webinars in the EU Commission Directorate General SANTE & Food.

Research Grandjean is known for conducting considerable research into the health effects of mercury in fish, and has spoken out for the maximum levels allowed by the EPA to be lowered by 50%. Together with Philip Landrigan, Grandjean wrote about chemicals, including certain fluorinated compounds such as PFAS, certain heavy metals, DDT, PCB and toluene, found in the environment that they described as harmful to the neurodevelopment of children and fetuses. Landrigan and Grandjean proposed the implementation of a global prevention strategy to reduce children's exposure to such chemicals, and encouraged lawmakers not to assume that untested chemicals were "safe to brain development."

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Philippe Grandjean (professor)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Philippe Grandjean (professor) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, 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 Philippe Grandjean (professor) 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 Philippe Grandjean (professor) 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 Philippe Grandjean (professor)

In research: Philippe Grandjean (professor) appears in biology 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 Philippe Grandjean (professor) 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: Philippe Grandjean (professor) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1950 births, Academic journal editors, Danish biologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Philippe Grandjean (professor) 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 Philippe Grandjean (professor) in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Philippe Grandjean (professor) in simple terms?

Why does Philippe Grandjean (professor) matter?

Because it connects several biology 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 Philippe Grandjean (professor)?

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 Philippe Grandjean (professor).