chemistry

Richard Laurence Millington Synge

Richard Laurence Millington Synge 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 Richard Laurence Millington Synge rather than just read about it. In short: Richard Laurence Millington Synge (28 October 1914 – 18 August 1994) was an English biochemist, and shared the 1952 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the invention of partition chromatography with Archer Martin. Life Richard Laurence Millington Synge was born in West Kirby on 28 October 1914, the son of Lawrence Millington Synge, a Liverpool stock-broker, and his wife, Katherine C.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Life Richard Laurence Millington Synge was born in West Kirby on 28 October 1914, the son of Lawrence Millington Synge, a Liverpool stock-broker, and his wife, Katherine C. Swan. Synge was educated at the Old Hall in Wellington, Shropshire and at Winchester College. He then studied Chemistry at Trinity College, Cambridge. He spent his entire career in research, at the Wool Industries Research Association, Leeds (1941–1943), Lister Institute for Preventive Medicine, London (1943–1948), Rowett Research Institute, Aberdeen (1948–1967), and Food Research Institute, Norwich (1967–1976). It was during his time in Leeds that he worked with Archer Martin, developing partition chromatography, a technique used in the separation mixtures of similar chemicals, that revolutionised analytical chemistry. Between 1942 and 1948 he studied peptides of the protein group gramicidin, work later used by Frederick Sanger in determining the structure of insulin. In March 1950 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society for which his candidature citation read:

Distinguished as a biochemist. Was the first to show the possibility of using counter-current liquid-liquid extraction in the separation of N-acetylamino acids. In collaboration with A.J.P. Martin this led to the development of partition chromatography, which they have applied with conspicuous success in problems related to the composition and structure of proteins, particularly wool keratin. Synge's recent work on the composition and structure of gramicidins is outstanding and illustrates vividly the great advances in technique for which he and Martin are responsible. In 1963 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Magnus Pyke, Andrew Phillipson, Sir David Cuthbertson and John Andrew Crichton. He was for several years the treasurer of the Chemical Information Group of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and was an honorary Professor in Biological Sciences at the University of East Anglia from 1968 to 1984. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science (ScD) from the University of East Anglia in 1977, and an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Mathematics and Science at Uppsala University, Sweden in 1980.

Personal life In 1943 Synge married Ann Davies Stephen (1916–1997). Ann Stephen was the daughter of psychologist Karin Stephen and psychoanalyst Adrian Stephen. Ann's sister Judith (1918–1972) was married to documentary artist and photographer Nigel Henderson.

Illustrations

Richard Laurence Millington Synge illustration

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Richard Laurence Millington Synge

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Richard Laurence Millington Synge 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 Richard Laurence Millington Synge 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 Richard Laurence Millington Synge 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 Richard Laurence Millington Synge

In research: Richard Laurence Millington Synge 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 Richard Laurence Millington Synge 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: Richard Laurence Millington Synge is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1914 births, 1994 deaths, 20th-century British biochemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Richard Laurence Millington Synge 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 Richard Laurence Millington Synge in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Richard Laurence Millington Synge in simple terms?

Richard Laurence Millington Synge (28 October 1914 – 18 August 1994) was an English biochemist, and shared the 1952 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the invention of partition chromatography with Archer Martin. Life Richard Laurence Millington Synge was born in West Kirby on 28 October 1914, the son of…

Why does Richard Laurence Millington Synge 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 Richard Laurence Millington Synge?

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 Richard Laurence Millington Synge.