physics

Zalman Shapiro

Zalman Shapiro is a physics 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 Zalman Shapiro rather than just read about it. In short: Zalman Mordecai Shapiro (May 12, 1920 – July 16, 2016) was an American chemist and inventor. He received 15 patents, including a 2009 patent on a process to make commercial production of diamonds cheaper, and played a key role in the development of the reactor that powered the world's first nuclear powered submarine, the Nautilus.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Zalman Mordecai Shapiro (May 12, 1920 – July 16, 2016) was an American chemist and inventor. He received 15 patents, including a 2009 patent on a process to make commercial production of diamonds cheaper, and played a key role in the development of the reactor that powered the world's first nuclear powered submarine, the Nautilus.

Biography Shapiro was born in Canton, Ohio, on May 12, 1920 to Abraham and Minnie (née Pinck) Shapiro. He graduated from Passaic High School in New Jersey as the valedictorian in 1938. He attended Johns Hopkins University, earning B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in 1942, 1945, and 1948, respectively.

Career After completing his education, Shapiro moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and began a career in engineering and chemistry. He worked for Westinghouse Electric and the Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory, where he worked on developing the fuel for the first commercial nuclear power plant, the Shippingport Atomic Power Station. He founded Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. (NUMEC) in Apollo, Pennsylvania in 1957 to develop improved methods of processing nuclear fuel. He was then investigated as part of the Apollo affair. In 2009, at age 89, Shapiro filed a patent for a new process of synthesizing diamonds. His family nominated him for the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, where he received "dozens of recommendation letters", but was not recognized. Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter lobbied the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Shapiro's behalf. The NRC responded to the senator by letter in November of that year, stating that the organization was unable to "unequivocally conclude that nuclear material was not diverted from [NUMEC] nor that all previously unaccounted for material was accounted for during the decommissioning of the site."

Personal life Shapiro married Evelyn Greenberg in 1945, and they have three children: Joshua, Ezra, and Deborah. He was formerly the president of the Pittsburgh chapter of the Zionist Organization of America. Shapiro and his wife were honored in 2008 for their contributions to the Jewish community for over 60 years. He lived in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh, where he died at the age of 96.

References

Further reading U.S. patent 7,547,358 - System and method for diamond deposition using a liquid-solvent carbon-transfer mechanism Thomas, Mary Ann (June 20, 2010). "NUMEC cleanup to begin after decades of wrangling". TRIBLive News. Retrieved October 23, 2011. Thomas, Mary Ann (May 9, 2011). "Army Corps to detail cleanup of Parks NUMEC nuclear site". TRIBLive News. Retrieved October 23, 2011. Rittmeyer, Brian C. (October 18, 2011). "Nuclear cleanup stopped in Parks Township". TRIBLive News. Archived from the original on October 31, 2011. Retrieved October 23, 2011. Johnson, Scott C. (2015). "What lies beneath". Foreign Policy, April–May 2015. Retrieved May 4, 2015.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Zalman Shapiro

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

In research: Zalman Shapiro appears in physics 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 Zalman Shapiro 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: Zalman Shapiro is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1920 births, 2016 deaths, 20th-century American Jews, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Zalman Shapiro 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 Zalman Shapiro in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Zalman Shapiro in simple terms?

Why does Zalman Shapiro matter?

Because it connects several physics 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 Zalman Shapiro?

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 Zalman Shapiro.