science

G. H. Dury

G. H. Dury 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 G. H. Dury rather than just read about it. In short: George Harry Dury (11 September 1916 – 4 October 1996) was an English geographer and hydrologist, who devised a model showing the relations between river discharge and other stream variables. His most widely read book was The Face of the Earth (1959).

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

George Harry Dury (11 September 1916 – 4 October 1996) was an English geographer and hydrologist, who devised a model showing the relations between river discharge and other stream variables. His most widely read book was The Face of the Earth (1959).

Life Dury was born at Hellidon, near Daventry, Northamptonshire, the son of Harry Dury (1879–1961), an agricultural labourer then serving in the Royal West Surrey Regiment, and his wife, Harriett Emma, née Colledge (1882–1959). He attended the grammar school in Daventry, before taking a BA (1937) and a teacher's diploma (1939) as an external student of the University of London. In 1937 he married Ina Gertrude Newton (1916–2005), daughter of George Lionel Newton, army pensioner, of Hertford Heath, Hertfordshire. They had a daughter, Helen. While teaching at Elizabeth College, Guernsey, in 1939, Dury and his family were evacuated before the German occupation. He was commissioned in the Royal Air Force in 1941 and assigned to photographic mapping. His mapping of Guernsey served also for his London University MA degree. His first post-war job was as a lecturer in geology and geography at Enfield Technical College in 1946–48. He then became a geography lecturer at Birkbeck College, University of London (1949–62). Having retired to Risby near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, he died at the West Suffolk Hospital there in 1996.

Research Dury's model is an extension of the Bradshaw model, which shows how river characteristics change from the upper course to the lower course of a river. Dury used a line graph and a logarithmic scale, plotting the discharge along the x-axis and the other stream variables along the y-axis. The latter included depth, width, velocity, slope (gradient) and friction (Manning formula). Dury's work on quantitative fluvial geomorphology led to a temporary stay with the United States Geological Survey in 1960–1961 and co-authorship of the influential Fluvial Processes in Geomorphology (with Luna B. Leopold, M. Gordon Wolman, and John Miller, 1964). Dury's most widely read book was The Face of the Earth (1959), published by Penguin Books.

See also List of rivers by average discharge

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with G. H. Dury

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what G. H. Dury 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 G. H. Dury 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 G. H. Dury 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 G. H. Dury

In research: G. H. Dury 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 G. H. Dury 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: G. H. Dury is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1916 births, 1996 deaths, Hydrologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for G. H. Dury 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 G. H. Dury in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is G. H. Dury in simple terms?

Why does G. H. Dury 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 G. H. Dury?

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 G. H. Dury.