chemistry

William Boon

William Boon 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 William Boon rather than just read about it. In short: William Robert Boon FRS FRSC (20 March 1911 – 28 October 1994) was a British chemist, known for developing the herbicide paraquat. Early life William Boon (Bill) was the only child of Walter Boon and Ellen Catherine (née Medhurst).

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

William Robert Boon FRS FRSC (20 March 1911 – 28 October 1994) was a British chemist, known for developing the herbicide paraquat.

Early life William Boon (Bill) was the only child of Walter Boon and Ellen Catherine (née Medhurst). After attending two private schools he entered St Dunstan's College. His chemistry master [there] (W Anderson) persuaded his father to let him stay at school and aim for a university education. He was accepted by King's College London and gained an honours degree in chemistry in 1932, followed by a PhD in biochemistry in 1936.

Career

ICI Boon's scientific career is thoroughly described in the Royal Society Memoir. The highlights of his time at ICI are:

In 1936 Boon was one of 6 PhDs in the Dyestuffs Division of ICI. His first job was to explore variations of Nikethamide which are less toxic. Some were found but the project was dropped. He then successfully studied how to scale up production of Mepacrine. In 1942 he took charge of a section concerned with the production, purification and structure of penicillin. Successful collaboration with Pfizer and other firms was achieved. In addition, much purer penicillin was produced by chromatography. Alongside observations made at ICI's Jealott's Hill research station, as many quaternary ammonium compounds as possible from the Dyestuffs collection were tested for herbicidal activity. One them (now known as diquat) was very successful. Further research on related compounds revealed a second dipyridilium herbicide, which was given the name paraquat. And through Boon's efforts ICI (now Zeneca) was persuaded to scale up its production, which proved no easy task.

Awards He was awarded the Mullard Award of the Royal Society in 1972 and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1974. He was also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a Fellow of King's College London.

Private life In 1938 Bill married Marjorie Betty Oury, a fellow graduate of King's. They had 3 children: Sally (1939), Michael Robert (1942) and Heather Mary (1948).

Boon had various hobbies and interests. He was an accomplished linguist, photographer and cabinet maker. He made items of furniture for his and Betty’s home and for those of their three children when they married. He also made an altar table for his local parish church. He shared with his wife an interest in music, opera and ballet. Wiiliam Robert Boom died in Oxford following a long period of illness. He was survived by his wife, son and two daughters.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with William Boon

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what William Boon 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 William Boon 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 William Boon 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 William Boon

In research: William Boon 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 William Boon 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: William Boon is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1911 births, 1994 deaths, 20th-century British chemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for William Boon 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 William Boon in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is William Boon in simple terms?

William Robert Boon FRS FRSC (20 March 1911 – 28 October 1994) was a British chemist, known for developing the herbicide paraquat. Early life William Boon (Bill) was the only child of Walter Boon and Ellen Catherine (née Medhurst).

Why does William Boon 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 William Boon?

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 William Boon.