physics

Hamish Robertson

Hamish Robertson is a physics 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 Hamish Robertson rather than just read about it. In short: Robert Graham Hamish Robertson (born 3 October 1943) is a Canadian–American experimental physicist, specializing in neutrino physics. He is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington, where he was formerly the director of the University of Washington's Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Robert Graham Hamish Robertson (born 3 October 1943) is a Canadian–American experimental physicist, specializing in neutrino physics. He is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington, where he was formerly the director of the University of Washington's Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics.

Biography Robertson was born in Ottawa, Canada, in 1943 and attended elementary and secondary school in Canada and England. He received a Bachelor of Arts from University of Oxford in 1965. In 1971, he received a Doctor of Philosophy from McMaster University, working under R. G. Summers-Gill with a dissertation titled Properties of the odd-odd cobalt nuclei.

Career

Michigan State University After completing his Ph.D., Robertson joined Michigan State University as a postdoctoral fellow and later became a faculty member, earning the rank of Professor of Physics in 1981. During his tenure, he conducted pioneering experiments in nuclear astrophysics, including resolving the origins of lithium-6 through sensitive deuterium-helium-4 capture measurements. He also contributed to parity violation and nuclear reaction studies, and his research identified the first isobaric quintet of states in nuclei. In 1976, Robertson was awarded an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship.

Los Alamos National Laboratory In 1981, Robertson joined the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), where his research shifted toward neutrino physics. His work on tritium beta decay provided constraints on the electron neutrino mass, showing it was insufficient to close the universe gravitationally. Robertson also spearheaded LANL's collaboration in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO), an experiment that confirmed neutrino flavor oscillations, challenging the Standard Model of particle physics. In recognition of his contributions, he was appointed as a Fellow of Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1988.

University of Washington In 1994, he became a professor at the University of Washington. He continued his research on neutrino physics, including work with the KATRIN Experiment and Project 8, which aimed to measure the neutrino mass with unprecedented sensitivity. He was named to the Boeing Distinguished Professorship in 2008 and retired as Professor Emeritus in 2017. Robertson has been a visiting scientist at several institutions, including at Princeton University (1975–1976), Chalk River Laboratories (1979), Argonne National Laboratory (1980), and the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (2003–2004). He was on the editorial staff of Physical Review D and the Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science.

Awards and honours 1976: Awarded a Sloan Foundation Fellowship 1982: Elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society 1997: Tom W. Bonner Prize in Nuclear Physics, American Physical Society 1998: Elected a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (London) 2003: Elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 2004: Elected a Member of the National Academy of Sciences

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hamish Robertson

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hamish Robertson claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, 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 Hamish Robertson 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 Hamish Robertson 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 Hamish Robertson

In research: Hamish Robertson appears in physics 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 Hamish Robertson 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: Hamish Robertson is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1943 births, Alumni of the University of Oxford, Canadian nuclear physicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hamish Robertson 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 Hamish Robertson in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Hamish Robertson in simple terms?

Why does Hamish Robertson matter?

Because it connects several physics 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 Hamish Robertson?

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 Hamish Robertson.