chemistry

Samuel Francis Boys

Samuel Francis Boys 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 Samuel Francis Boys rather than just read about it. In short: Samuel Francis (Frank) Boys (20 December 1911 – 16 October 1972) was a British theoretical chemist. Education Boys was born in Pudsey, Yorkshire, England.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Samuel Francis (Frank) Boys (20 December 1911 – 16 October 1972) was a British theoretical chemist.

Education Boys was born in Pudsey, Yorkshire, England. He was educated at the Grammar School in Pudsey and then at Imperial College London, whence he graduated in Chemistry in 1932. He then embarked on postgraduate study at Trinity College, Cambridge, supervised first by Martin Lowry, and then, after Lowry's death in 1936, by John Lennard-Jones. He awarded a PhD in 1937 from Cambridge, for a thesis on "The Quantum Theory of Optical Rotation".

Career

In 1938, Boys was appointed an Assistant Lecturer in Mathematical Physics at Queen's University Belfast. He spent the whole of the Second World War working on explosives research with the Ministry of Supply at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, with Lennard-Jones as his supervisor. After the war, Boys accepted an ICI Fellowship at Imperial College, London. In 1949, he was appointed to a Lectureship in theoretical chemistry at the University of Cambridge. He remained at Cambridge until his death. He was only elected to a Cambridge College Fellowship at University College, now Wolfson College, Cambridge, shortly before his death. Boys is best known for the introduction of Gaussian orbitals into ab initio quantum chemistry. Almost all basis sets used in computational chemistry now employ these orbitals. Frank Boys was also one of the first scientists to use digital computers for calculations on polyatomic molecules. An International Conference, entitled "Molecular Quantum Mechanics: Methods and Applications" was held in memory of S. Francis Boys and in honour of Isaiah Shavitt in September 1995 at St Catharine's College, Cambridge.

Awards and honours Boys was a member of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1972, a few months before his death.

References

External links Samuel Francis Boys at the Mathematics Genealogy Project Martin, Dermot (August 2010). "Lost Boys of Quantum Chemistry" (PDF). Chemistry World: 56–59.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Samuel Francis Boys

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Samuel Francis Boys 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 Samuel Francis Boys 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 Samuel Francis Boys 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 Samuel Francis Boys

In research: Samuel Francis Boys 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 Samuel Francis Boys 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: Samuel Francis Boys is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1911 births, 1972 deaths, 20th-century English chemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Samuel Francis Boys 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 Samuel Francis Boys in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Samuel Francis Boys in simple terms?

Samuel Francis (Frank) Boys (20 December 1911 – 16 October 1972) was a British theoretical chemist. Education Boys was born in Pudsey, Yorkshire, England.

Why does Samuel Francis Boys 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 Samuel Francis Boys?

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 Samuel Francis Boys.