astronomy

Virgil Boekelheide

Virgil Boekelheide is a astronomy 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 Virgil Boekelheide rather than just read about it. In short: Virgil Boekelheide (July 28, 1919 – September 24, 2003) was an American organic chemist and a professor in the department of chemistry at the University of Oregon. He is known for his work on aromatic compounds, particularly cyclophanes, and a name reaction, the Boekelheide reaction, is named after him.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Virgil Boekelheide (July 28, 1919 – September 24, 2003) was an American organic chemist and a professor in the department of chemistry at the University of Oregon. He is known for his work on aromatic compounds, particularly cyclophanes, and a name reaction, the Boekelheide reaction, is named after him.

Education and academic career Boekelheide was born in Chelsea, South Dakota to a family of German ancestry. He received his bachelor's degree from Dakota Wesleyan University in 1939. He then received his PhD from the University of Minnesota in 1943, where he worked under the supervision of C. Frederick Koelsch. After three years as an instructor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, he joined the faculty as a professor at the University of Rochester in 1946. He moved to the University of Oregon in 1960 and remained there for the rest of his research career. He retired in 1984. Boekelheide was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1953 and was an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow, permitting him to spend time as a visiting scientist in Germany. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1962.

Research

Boekelheide began his research career studying alkaloid natural products, but later refocused his interests on aromaticity, particularly bridged compounds known as cyclophanes. He was the first to synthesize the sixfold-bridged cyclophane compound known as superphane, a molecule of interest due to its unique pi-stacking intramolecular interactions. A name reaction, the Boekelheide reaction, is named after him following his publication in 1954.

Personal life Especially in later life, Boekelheide was a patron of the arts in Eugene, Oregon, serving as president of the Eugene Ballet Society from 1988 to 1991. He and his wife had three children.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Virgil Boekelheide

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

In research: Virgil Boekelheide appears in astronomy 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 Virgil Boekelheide 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: Virgil Boekelheide is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1919 births, 2003 deaths, American organic chemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Virgil Boekelheide 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 Virgil Boekelheide in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Virgil Boekelheide in simple terms?

Why does Virgil Boekelheide matter?

Because it connects several astronomy 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 Virgil Boekelheide?

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 Virgil Boekelheide.