astronomy

Graham Farquhar

Graham Farquhar 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 Graham Farquhar rather than just read about it. In short: Graham Douglas Farquhar, (born 8 December 1947) is an Australian biophysicist, Distinguished Professor at Australian National University, and leader of the Farquhar Lab. In 2018 Farquhar was named Senior Australian of the Year.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Graham Douglas Farquhar, (born 8 December 1947) is an Australian biophysicist, Distinguished Professor at Australian National University, and leader of the Farquhar Lab. In 2018 Farquhar was named Senior Australian of the Year.

Life Farquhar attended Wesley College, finishing in 1964, and went on to earn a BSc from Australian National University in 1968, a BSc with Honours in Biophysics from University of Queensland in 1969, and a PhD from Australian National University in 1973. Farquhar was appointed Professor of the Australian National University’s Research School of Biology and Chief Investigator of the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis. His work to model plant biophysics has helped to understand how cells, whole plants and whole forests work, and to create new water-efficient wheat varieties. His latest project is attempting to determine which trees will grow faster in a high carbon dioxide atmosphere. In 2014 Farquhar, along with CSIRO agronomist Richard Richards, was awarded the Rank Prize in Nutrition, for "pioneering the understanding of isotope discrimination in plants and its application to breed wheat varieties that use water more efficiently", which related to a discovery the pair made in the 1980s. Farquhar was awarded the Prime Minister's Prize for Science in 2015 for his modelling of photosynthesis and the Macfarlane Burnet Medal and Lecture by the Australian Academy of Science in 2016. In 2017 he was the recipient of the Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences (Biology). In 2025 he was awarded the Royal Medal of the Royal Society. On 25 January 2018, Farquhar was named Senior Australian of the Year. By the number of citations, he is the most cited author of some plant science journals such as Planta, Plant, Cell and Environment, Functional Plant Biology.

See also Global terrestrial stilling Farquhar Equations

References

External links [1] https://www.nasonline.org/ https://web.archive.org/web/20111129103334/http://science.org.au/scientists/interviews/p/gp.html

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Graham Farquhar

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Graham Farquhar 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 Graham Farquhar 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 Graham Farquhar 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 Graham Farquhar

In research: Graham Farquhar 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 Graham Farquhar 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: Graham Farquhar is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1947 births, Academic staff of the Australian National University, Australian National University alumni, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Graham Farquhar 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 Graham Farquhar in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Graham Farquhar in simple terms?

Why does Graham Farquhar 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 Graham Farquhar?

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 Graham Farquhar.