astronomy

George Edmund Lindsay

George Edmund Lindsay 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 George Edmund Lindsay rather than just read about it. In short: George Edmund Lindsay (1916–2002) was an American botanist, naturalist, and museum director. From 1956 to 1963, he was director of the San Diego Natural History Museum and served as Director of the California Academy of Sciences from 1963 to 1982.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

George Edmund Lindsay (1916–2002) was an American botanist, naturalist, and museum director. From 1956 to 1963, he was director of the San Diego Natural History Museum and served as Director of the California Academy of Sciences from 1963 to 1982. At both institutions, Lindsay led research field expeditions to the islands in the Sea of Cortez (Vermilion Sea and Gulf of California) found between the Baja California Peninsula and mainland Sonora, Mexico. These expeditions relied on the Vermilion Sea Field Station at Bahia del Los Angeles as their base of operations, which he facilitated and organized. He was active in transnational conservation efforts to protect the islands as biodiversity sanctuaries in the Gulf of California.

Biography Lindsay was born in Los Angeles County, in Pomona, California, on August 17, 1916, to orchardists Alice H. Foster and Charles W. Lindsay. He attended Chaffey Junior College (in Ontario, California) and San Diego State College before finishing his undergraduate degree at Stanford University in 1950; he continued graduate studies at Stanford (studying with Ira L. Wiggins), completing his dissertation on the taxonomy and ecology of the cactus genus Ferocactus in 1955. Lindsay specialized in desert plants, with field work in Mexico and the western United States. In 1940, he was executive director of the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1956, Lindsay became director of the San Diego Natural History Museum, leading research expeditions throughout his tenure. He became director of the California Academy of Sciences in 1963.

Selected publications

Lindsay, George M. (1952). The Sefton Foundation - Stanford University Expedition to the Gulf of California, 1952. [Stanford, Calif.]: [Reprinted by Belvedere Scientific Fund]. Lindsay, George E. (1955). Taxonomy and Ecology of the Genus Ferocactus [PhD dissertation]. Stanford University. Lindsay, George E. (1962). "The Belvedere Expedition to the Gulf of California". Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History. 13: 1–44. doi:10.5962/bhl.part.9595. Lindsay, George E. (1963). Cacti of San Diego County; a Non-Technical Guide. San Diego, CA: San Diego Society of Natural History. Lindsay, George E. (1964). The Sea of Cortez Expedition of the California Academy of Sciences, June 20-July 4, 1964. San Francisco.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Lindsay, George E. (1966). "The Gulf Islands Expedition of 1966". Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences. 4 (30): 309–355. Lindsay, George E.; Cota, J. Hugo (1966). Taxonomy and Ecology of the Genus Ferocactus: Explorations in the USA and Mexico. [California?]: Tireless Termites Press. Lindsay, George E. (1970). Some Natural Values of Baja California. San Francisco, Calif.: California Academy of Sciences. Lindsay, George E.; Flood, Merielle K. (1994). George Edmund Lindsay, Ph.D: Building a Natural History Museum (Oral History). San Francisco, CA: California Academy of Sciences.

References

External links List of genera and species described by G.E.Linds.. "Author Details for George Edmund Lindsay" (HTML). International Plant Names Index. International Organization for Plant Information (IOPI). Retrieved 2015-10-16. The San Diego Natural History Museum Research Library houses a significant collection of George Lindsay's papers and photographs.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with George Edmund Lindsay

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what George Edmund Lindsay 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 George Edmund Lindsay 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 Edmund Lindsay 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 Edmund Lindsay

In research: George Edmund Lindsay 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 George Edmund Lindsay 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 Edmund Lindsay is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1916 births, 2002 deaths, 20th-century American botanists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for George Edmund Lindsay 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.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “George Edmund Lindsay” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study George Edmund Lindsay in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is George Edmund Lindsay in simple terms?

Why does George Edmund Lindsay 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 George Edmund Lindsay?

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 Edmund Lindsay.