chemistry

Roland Griffiths

Roland Griffiths 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 Roland Griffiths rather than just read about it. In short: Roland Redmond Griffiths (July 19, 1946 – October 16, 2023) was an American psychopharmacologist. At Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, he was professor of neuroscience, psychiatry, and behavioral science, and he was the director of the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Roland Redmond Griffiths (July 19, 1946 – October 16, 2023) was an American psychopharmacologist. At Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, he was professor of neuroscience, psychiatry, and behavioral science, and he was the director of the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research.

Life and career Griffiths was born in Glen Cove, New York, on July 19, 1946. His mother was a homemaker, and his father, a psychologist, became a professor at the University of California, Berkeley; Griffiths grew up in El Cerrito, California. He earned his undergraduate degree from Occidental College and his Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Minnesota in psychopharmacology, in 1972. After completing his doctorate, Griffiths joined the faculty of Johns Hopkins University. In 1994, he published research demonstrating the addictive nature of caffeine as well as its withdrawal syndrome. Griffiths began studying psychedelic drugs in 1999. His 2006 paper "Psilocybin Can Occasion Mystical-Type Experiences Having Substantial and Sustained Personal Meaning and Spiritual Significance", "caused a media ruckus", according to The New York Times, for its documentation of the "revelatory and spiritually meaningful" experiences of individuals who were given psilocybin. His work in the field is credited with helping revive interest in clinical research into psychedelic drugs as a potential treatment for addiction, major depressive disorder, and anxiety disorders. In 2010, Griffiths led the first controlled study of the effects of the psychoactive plant Salvia divinorum. In 2024, former colleague Matthew Johnson publicly criticized the soundness of the research in Griffiths' lab.

Personal life Griffiths' 1973 marriage to Kristin Ann Johnson, and later to Diana Hansen, both ended in divorce. At the time of his death, he was married to Marla Weiner. He had three children. In 2021, Griffiths was diagnosed with metastatic colon cancer. He died at his home in Baltimore on October 16, 2023, at the age of 77. In 2022, Griffiths disclosed his own experiences with psychedelics.

References

Further reading Scharper, Julie (Fall 2017). "Crash Course in the Nature of the Mind". Johns Hopkins Magazine. Retrieved February 15, 2020.

External links Roland R. Griffiths, PhD, at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Roland R. Griffiths, PhD at the Center for Psychedelic & Consciousness Research

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Roland Griffiths

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Roland Griffiths 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 Roland Griffiths 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 Roland Griffiths 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 Roland Griffiths

In research: Roland Griffiths 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 Roland Griffiths 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: Roland Griffiths is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1946 births, 2023 deaths, 20th-century American biochemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Roland Griffiths 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 Roland Griffiths in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Roland Griffiths in simple terms?

Why does Roland Griffiths 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 Roland Griffiths?

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 Roland Griffiths.