biology

George Davey Smith

George Davey Smith is a biology 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 George Davey Smith rather than just read about it. In short: George Davey Smith (born 9 May 1959) is a British epidemiologist. He has been professor of clinical epidemiology at the University of Bristol since 1994, honorary professor of public health at the University of Glasgow since 1996, and visiting professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine since 1999.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

George Davey Smith (born 9 May 1959) is a British epidemiologist. He has been professor of clinical epidemiology at the University of Bristol since 1994, honorary professor of public health at the University of Glasgow since 1996, and visiting professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine since 1999. He was also the scientific director of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (until replaced in 2017 by Nic Timpson) and a former editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Epidemiology.

Education Davey Smith attended Stockton Heath Primary School and Lymm Grammar School in Warrington in North West England. He received a BA from Queen's College, Oxford in 1981, an MB BChir from Jesus College, Cambridge in 1984, an MSc from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 1988, an MD from Jesus College, Cambridge in 1991, and a DSc from Queen's College, Oxford in 2000.

Honours and awards Davey Smith is an ISI highly cited researcher, a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and a fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, United Kingdom. In 2019 Davey Smith became foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.

See also Doug Altman Julian Higgins John Ioannidis David Moher

References

External links

"Professor George Davey Smith". University of Bristol. Nightingale, Katherine (21 November 2018). "Profile: George Davey Smith". Insight. Medical Research Council. George Davey Smith on the History of Modern Biomedicine Research Group website George Davey Smith publications indexed by Google Scholar

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with George Davey Smith

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what George Davey Smith claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, 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 George Davey Smith 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 George Davey Smith 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 George Davey Smith

In research: George Davey Smith appears in biology 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 George Davey Smith 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: George Davey Smith is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1959 births, Academics of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Academics of the University of Glasgow, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for George Davey Smith 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 George Davey Smith in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is George Davey Smith in simple terms?

Why does George Davey Smith matter?

Because it connects several biology 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 George Davey Smith?

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 George Davey Smith.