astronomy

Hendrik Tennekes

Hendrik Tennekes 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 Hendrik Tennekes rather than just read about it. In short: Hendrik Tennekes (13 December 1936 – 3 July 2021) was a Dutch director of research at the Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute (Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut, or KNMI), and was a Professor of Aeronautical Engineering at Pennsylvania State University and Professor of Meteorology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Free University (VU) in Amsterdam). He is known for his work in the fields of turbulen…

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Hendrik Tennekes (13 December 1936 – 3 July 2021) was a Dutch director of research at the Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute (Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut, or KNMI), and was a Professor of Aeronautical Engineering at Pennsylvania State University and Professor of Meteorology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Free University (VU) in Amsterdam). He is known for his work in the fields of turbulence and multi-modal forecasting. He authored the textbooks The Simple Science of Flight: From Insects to Jumbo Jets and A First Course in Turbulence with John L. Lumley. The book "A First Course in Turbulence", is a classic that logs more than 12,000 citations on Google Scholar. Tennekes has stressed the limited predictability of complex systems and the limited value of predictions based on scientific modeling. He was a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, KNAW) from 1982 – 2010. Tennekes died on 3 July 2021, at the age of 84.

Controversy In an interview in the Dutch paper De Telegraaf, Tennekes says he was ousted from his position at the Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute due to his skepticism over climate change. After publishing a column critical of climate model accuracy, Tennekes says he was told "within two years, you'll be out on the street". According to a search of 22,000 academic journals, Henk Tennekes had not published any original research in a peer-reviewed journal since 1990. Prior to 1990, Tennekes has published research mainly in the area of meteorology, and never about climate change.

Books The Simple Science of Flight, MIT Press, 1997. ISBN 0-262-70065-4 The Simple Science of Flight. From Insects to Jumbo Jets. Revised and Expanded Edition, 2009. MIT Press. Paperback ISBN 978-0-262-51313-5 A First Course in Turbulence, with John L. Lumley, MIT Press, 1972. ISBN 0-262-20019-8

References

External links The Lorenz paradigm and the limitations of climate models A Personal Call For Modesty, Integrity, and Balance

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hendrik Tennekes

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hendrik Tennekes 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 Hendrik Tennekes 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 Hendrik Tennekes 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 Hendrik Tennekes

In research: Hendrik Tennekes 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 Hendrik Tennekes 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: Hendrik Tennekes is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1936 births, 2021 deaths, Aerodynamicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hendrik Tennekes 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 Hendrik Tennekes in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Hendrik Tennekes in simple terms?

Why does Hendrik Tennekes 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 Hendrik Tennekes?

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 Hendrik Tennekes.