astronomy

Gail Atkinson

Gail Atkinson 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 Gail Atkinson rather than just read about it. In short: Gail Marie Atkinson (born 1957) is a Canadian seismologist. She is a former professor at the University of Western Ontario and Canada Research Chair in Earthquake Hazards and Ground Motions.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Gail Marie Atkinson (born 1957) is a Canadian seismologist. She is a former professor at the University of Western Ontario and Canada Research Chair in Earthquake Hazards and Ground Motions. In 2014, Atkinson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada for being an "international leader in the development of models to predict earthquake ground motions as a function of magnitude and distance."

Early life and education Atkinson was born in 1957. She completed her Bachelor of Science degree in geology and physics from Carleton University in 1978 before earning her master's degree in civil engineering at the University of Western Ontario. Following her graduate degree, Atkinson worked with Klohn Leonoff Consulting Engineers and Acres International Ltd and held research fellowships with the University of British Columbia and the Geological Survey of Canada. She eventually returned to UWO for her PhD in geophysics, which she received in 1993.

Career Upon completing her PhD, Atkinson accepted a faculty position teaching earth sciences at Carleton University. In this role, she analyzed dams, power plants and other buildings across North America to determine their earthquake readiness. In 2001, she received funding to create a national rapid-warning system for potentially destructive earthquakes. In order to establish this system, she oversaw the implementation of a series of 90 seismic probes buried in strategic locations across Canada, each connected by satellite to data centres. During this time, she was also serving as president of Polaris, a joint venture involving government, industry, utilities, and five universities. By 2004, Atkinson's research team installed 70 seismic devices in Ontario, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories. As a result of her efforts, Atkinson received one of Ontario Premier's Research Excellence Awards. Atkinson remained at Carleton until 2007 when she accepted became the Canada Research Chair in Earthquake Hazards and Ground Motions at the University of Western Ontario. Shortly after accepting this role, Atkinson was named the 2007 William B. Joyner Memorial Lecturer from the Seismological Society of America. In 2010, she partook in a nation-wide study looking at seismic hazards following the 2010 Central Canada earthquake. As a result of her interests into earthquakes, Atkinson partnered with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, TransAlta, and Nanometrics to establish a multi-institutional collaborative research program on Induced Seismicity Processes and Hazards. In 2014, Atkinson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada for being an "international leader in the development of models to predict earthquake ground motions as a function of magnitude and distance." Two years later, she was the recipient of the 2016 J. Tuzo Wilson Medal as someone who had made an outstanding contribution to the field of geophysics in Canada. In 2018, Atkinson was awarded the Hellmuth Prize for Achievement in Research for her research at the engineering-seismology interface. In 2020, Atkinson was recognized with the Harry Fielding Reid Medal for her seminal contributions in engineering seismology, especially regarding ground motion characterization. She later retired the same year and moved to British Columbia.

Personal life Atkinson and her husband have two children together.

References

External links Gail Atkinson publications indexed by Google Scholar

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Gail Atkinson

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Gail Atkinson 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 Gail Atkinson 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 Gail Atkinson 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 Gail Atkinson

In research: Gail Atkinson 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 Gail Atkinson 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: Gail Atkinson is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1957 births, Academic staff of Carleton University, Academic staff of the University of Western Ontario, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Gail Atkinson 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 Gail Atkinson in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Gail Atkinson in simple terms?

Gail Marie Atkinson (born 1957) is a Canadian seismologist. She is a former professor at the University of Western Ontario and Canada Research Chair in Earthquake Hazards and Ground Motions.

Why does Gail Atkinson 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 Gail Atkinson?

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 Gail Atkinson.