astronomy

Harold Knox-Shaw

Harold Knox-Shaw 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 Harold Knox-Shaw rather than just read about it. In short: Harold Knox-Shaw (12 October 1885 – 11 April 1970) was an English astronomer. He was born in St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Harold Knox-Shaw (12 October 1885 – 11 April 1970) was an English astronomer. He was born in St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex. He was the oldest of four siblings. During his youth he earned scholarships to Wellington College in Berkshire and to Trinity College, Cambridge, from which he graduated in 1907 ranked as Sixth Wrangler. A year following his graduation he became an assistant at the Khedivial Astronomical Observatory in Helwan, Egypt. He was elected Fellow of the Society in 1908. In 1910 he became the first to photograph Halley's Comet from this site. In 1913 he became superintendent of the Khedivial Observatory, and remained at that post until 1924. From 1918 until 1924 he also served as the Director of Meteorological Services in Egypt and Sudan. He performed welfare work for the British army during World War I, and was awarded the Order of the Nile, Class 4. (In 1926 he was awarded Order of the Nile, class 3.) He returned to England in 1924 to become Radcliffe Observer at the Radcliffe Observatory. Much of his labor during the following years was then spent in production of the Radcliffe Catalogue of Proper Motions, published in 1934. From 1926–30 he was Secretary of the Royal Astronomical Society, then served as President 1931–32. His dissatisfaction with the observing conditions in England led him to lobby funds for a site in South Africa. This observatory would not be completed until 1939, however, when Knox-Shaw took up residence. The pouring of the blank for the main telescope was then held up until after World War II. From 1941–42 he was president of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa (ASSA). The mirror finally arrived in 1948, followed by a Cassegrain spectrograph in 1951. Two years later Knox-Shaw retired. He married Maisie (née Weir of Pretoria) and the couple had one son, Peter, who was born in 1944. His twenty-year retirement was spent at Elgin, Western Cape. He died from a stroke, and his ashes were scattered on Radcliffe Observatory grounds.

Awards and honors The crater Knox-Shaw on the Moon is named after him. Awarded the Order of the Nile, class 3 in 1926. First winner of the Gill Medal, Astronomical Society of Southern Africa, 1956.

References Thackeray, A. D. (1971). "Harold Knox-Shaw (obituary)". Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society. 12: 197. Bibcode:1971QJRAS..12..197T.

External links KNOX-SHAW, H

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Harold Knox-Shaw

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Harold Knox-Shaw 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 Harold Knox-Shaw 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 Harold Knox-Shaw 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 Harold Knox-Shaw

In research: Harold Knox-Shaw 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 Harold Knox-Shaw 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: Harold Knox-Shaw is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1885 births, 1970 deaths, 20th-century English astronomers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Harold Knox-Shaw 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 Harold Knox-Shaw in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Harold Knox-Shaw in simple terms?

Harold Knox-Shaw (12 October 1885 – 11 April 1970) was an English astronomer. He was born in St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex.

Why does Harold Knox-Shaw 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 Harold Knox-Shaw?

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 Harold Knox-Shaw.