astronomy

Hans-Dieter Sues

Hans-Dieter Sues 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 Hans-Dieter Sues rather than just read about it. In short: Hans-Dieter Sues (13 January 1956 – 21 February 2026) was a German-born American palaeontologist who was a Senior Research Geologist and Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. Life and career Sues attended the Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, the University of Alberta, and Harvard University (Ph.D., 1984).

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Hans-Dieter Sues (13 January 1956 – 21 February 2026) was a German-born American palaeontologist who was a Senior Research Geologist and Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.

Life and career Sues attended the Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, the University of Alberta, and Harvard University (Ph.D., 1984). He did work at McGill University and was a research paleobiologist at the Smithsonian before taking a role at the Royal Ontario Museum, where he was vice-president of collections and research. In 1998, Sues was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2002, he moved to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, becoming their curator of vertebrate paleontology. From 2002 to 2004, he was also the president of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. In 2003, Sues was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. In 2010, he was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Prize for Excellence in Research and Teaching. Sues published on a wide range of extinct Mesozoic and Paleozoic tetrapods, including temnospondyls, early reptiles, synapsids, turtles, dinosaurs, other archosauromorphs, and lepidosauromorphs. He also contributed to studies on the evolution of herbivory and faunal transitions. He primarily studied taxa from North America and Europe. The pachycephalosaur Hanssuesia is named for him. Sues died on 21 February 2026, at the age of 70.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hans-Dieter Sues

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hans-Dieter Sues 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 Hans-Dieter Sues 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 Hans-Dieter Sues 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 Hans-Dieter Sues

In research: Hans-Dieter Sues 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 Hans-Dieter Sues 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: Hans-Dieter Sues is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1956 births, 2026 deaths, American paleontologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hans-Dieter Sues 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 Hans-Dieter Sues in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Hans-Dieter Sues in simple terms?

Why does Hans-Dieter Sues 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 Hans-Dieter Sues?

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 Hans-Dieter Sues.