astronomy

Graeme Hammer

Graeme Hammer 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 Graeme Hammer rather than just read about it. In short: Graeme Hammer is an Australian crop scientist and distinguished professor at the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) at the University of Queensland (UQ). His research has focused on crop physiology and modelling, climate risk applications in agriculture, and systems approaches to plant breeding.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Graeme Hammer is an Australian crop scientist and distinguished professor at the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) at the University of Queensland (UQ). His research has focused on crop physiology and modelling, climate risk applications in agriculture, and systems approaches to plant breeding. He has held leadership roles in establishing research centres and collaborative initiatives in Australia.

Early life and education Hammer earned a Bachelor of Science in Forestry (Honours) from the University of Melbourne in 1973, a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics and statistics from the University of Queensland in 1978, and a Master of Science in forest growth and modelling from the University of Melbourne in 1983. He completed a PhD in crop physiology and modelling at Kansas State University in 1987.

Career Hammer's early career included roles as a Forestry Officer with the Northern Territory Forest Service (1973–1976) and Lecturer in Plant Ecology at the Queensland Institute of Technology (1976–1977). He then joined the Queensland Department of Primary Industries (QDPI), serving as Research Scientist and Senior Research Scientist (1977–1992), Principal Research Scientist (1993–1997) and Senior Principal Research Scientist (1997–2001). He joined UQ in 2001 as Professor in Crop Science (School of Land, Crop and Food Sciences) and was involved in the establishment of QAAFI as a research institute at UQ with engagement with QDPI. He became Professor and Director of the Centre for Plant Science in QAAFI (2011–2018), and from 2018 has been Professor in Crop Science in the Centre for Crop Science (CCS), QAAFI. Following the growth of the Centre for Plant Science, he led its division into the Centres for Crop Science and Horticultural Science in 2018 and remained CCS Director until February 2019. Hammer was instrumental in establishing and leading the Agricultural Production Systems Research Unit (APSRU), a joint venture of CSIRO, the Queensland Government and UQ, and co-led development of the Agricultural Production Systems Simulator (APSIM).

Research and contributions Hammer's research has addressed soil–crop–management–environment interactions and the development of predictive system models for crop improvement and management. He contributed to the development of crop modelling in Australia in the early 1980s and has applied simulation models with growers and agribusiness to inform decision-making. His work on crop adaptation and climate risks linked seasonal climate prediction, particularly based on the El Niño–Southern Oscillation to crop simulation to explore risk management strategies. He edited the volume Applications of Seasonal Climate Forecasting in Agricultural and Natural Ecosystems – The Australian Experience (Kluwer, 2000). Hammer has also worked on integrated systems approaches to plant breeding, using models to characterise environments, analyse physiological bases of trait variation, and examine genotype–management–environment interactions. He co-edited Plant Adaptation and Crop Improvement (CAB International, 1996), collaborated with public sorghum breeding in Australia and with Pioneer Hi-Bred's maize program in the United States, and has held Chief Investigator roles in Australian Research Council (ARC) Centres of Excellence.

Publications Hammer has published over 230 refereed journal articles, more than 20 book chapters, and over 130 major conference papers, and has served as lead editor of two books and on editorial boards of scientific journals. His work has an h-index of 106.

Selected works Plant Adaptation and Crop Improvement (co-editor). CAB International, 1996. Applications of Seasonal Climate Forecasting in Agricultural and Natural Ecosystems – The Australian Experience (editor). Kluwer Academic, 2000. Hammer, G. et al. (2009). Crop Science 49: 299–312. (Thomson ISI Fast Breaking Paper award). ORCID: 0000-0002-1180-7374

Grants and leadership Hammer has been Chief or Partner Investigator on projects funded by agencies including the Australian Research Council, Grains Research and Development Corporation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, supporting multidisciplinary teams across UQ and the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries; external funding has typically exceeded A$1 million per annum. He has chaired and served on committees and advisory boards, including leadership roles for the InterDrought conference series, the APSIM Initiative Steering Committee (UQ Research Leader), and the International Research Institute for Climate and Society Scientific Advisory Committee (2000–2010).

Honours and awards Farrer Memorial Medal (2012) Australian Medal for Agricultural Science, Ag Institute Australia (2012) Soil Science Society of America – Agricultural Systems Modelling Award (2012) Thomson ISI Highly Cited Researcher in agricultural science (2006–2014; 2018) Queensland Primary Industries Research Achievement Award (2002)

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Graeme Hammer

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Graeme Hammer 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 Graeme Hammer 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 Graeme Hammer 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 Graeme Hammer

In research: Graeme Hammer 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 Graeme Hammer 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: Graeme Hammer is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Academic staff of the University of Queensland, Kansas State University alumni, Living people, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Graeme Hammer 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 Graeme Hammer in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Graeme Hammer in simple terms?

Why does Graeme Hammer 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 Graeme Hammer?

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 Graeme Hammer.