science

The Lampshade

The Lampshade is a science 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 The Lampshade rather than just read about it. In short: The Lampshade: A Holocaust Detective Story from Buchenwald to New Orleans is a 2010 nonfiction book by U.S. author Mark Jacobson. It recounts the attempt to ascertain the origin of a lampshade purportedly made from human skin.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

The Lampshade: A Holocaust Detective Story from Buchenwald to New Orleans is a 2010 nonfiction book by U.S. author Mark Jacobson. It recounts the attempt to ascertain the origin of a lampshade purportedly made from human skin. It was not until 2012 that DNA testing was sophisticated enough to determine that the shade was likely made from a parchment of cow skin.

Synopsis In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, a lampshade purported to be made from the skin of a Jewish Holocaust victim, turned up in a sidewalk rummage sale in New Orleans. It was purchased for $35 by Skip Henderson, a local New Orleans man just returned to the City from Katrina evacuation. Henderson subsequently sent the lampshade to his friend Mark Jacobson, thinking that the Brooklyn writer would be interested in searching into the history of the object. Jacobson then embarks on a 5 year quest to discover the true origin of the lampshade. Genetic testing initially confirmed it was made from human skin. But because of the tanning process, researchers were unable to determine the ethnic origin of the person whose skin was used, nor to date it. Over the course of the next few years, Jacobson attempts to track down the origin of and explore the meaning of the lampshade, how it ended up in New Orleans, and to decide what to do with it. Both the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and the Yad Vashem museum in Jerusalem, declined to take possession of the lampshade, saying that accounts of concentration camp lampshades made of human skin were probably a "myth". Through his investigation, Jacobson examines the history of the Buchenwald concentration camp, where such objects were reputed to have been made; as well as the racial and post-Katrina history of New Orleans, the world of Holocaust deniers, the mythology surrounding objects said to be made from human skin, and the black market trafficking of such goods.

Cow skin In 2012 the lampshade was subjected to more sophisticated, next-generation DNA testing. It was determined to most likely be cow skin, or parchment. Prepared skins, known as parchment, were used for writing materials in ancient and medieval times.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Lampshade

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Lampshade claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, 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 The Lampshade 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 The Lampshade 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 The Lampshade

In research: The Lampshade appears in science 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 The Lampshade 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: The Lampshade is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2000s in New Orleans, 2010 non-fiction books, Buchenwald concentration camp, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Lampshade 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 The Lampshade in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is The Lampshade in simple terms?

Why does The Lampshade matter?

Because it connects several science 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 The Lampshade?

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 The Lampshade.