astronomy

Henry Bryant Bigelow

Henry Bryant Bigelow 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 Henry Bryant Bigelow rather than just read about it. In short: Henry Bryant Bigelow (October 3, 1879 – December 11, 1967) was an American oceanographer and marine biologist. He was a professor at Harvard University for 60 years and was the founding director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Henry Bryant Bigelow (October 3, 1879 – December 11, 1967) was an American oceanographer and marine biologist. He was a professor at Harvard University for 60 years and was the founding director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The U.S. research vessel NOAAS Henry B. Bigelow was named in his honor.

Life and career He was the grandson of Henry Bryant who was an American physician and naturalist. After graduating from Harvard in 1901, he began working with famed ichthyologist Alexander Agassiz. Bigelow accompanied Agassiz on several major marine science expeditions including one aboard the Albatross in 1907. He began working at the Museum of Comparative Zoology in 1905 and joined Harvard's faculty in 1906 where he worked for 62 years. In 1911, Bigelow was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He helped found the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 1930 and was its founding director. He was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1931 and the American Philosophical Society in 1937. During his life he published more than one hundred papers and several books. He was an expert on coelenterates and elasmobranchs. In 1948 Bigelow was awarded the Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal from the National Academy of Sciences.

Honors The Henry Bryant Bigelow Medal in Oceanography is awarded by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to honor "those who make significant inquiries into the phenomena of the sea". Bigelow was the first recipient of the medal in 1960. He was honored by the naming of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research vessel NOAAS Henry B. Bigelow (R 225).

Legacy First published in 1953, Bigelow's Fishes of the Gulf of Maine (with William C. Schroeder) continued to be a useful reference for the fishing and scientific communities for 50 years. The Smithsonian Institution Press published a heavily revised third edition in 2002.

Descriptions Bigelow described numerous new species to science, 110 of which are recognized today according to the World Register of Marine Species. See Category:Taxa named by Henry Bryant Bigelow.

Species named for Bigelow Some 26 species and two genera (Bigelowina, stomatopods in family Nannosquillidae, and Bigelowiella, protists in family Chlorarachniophyte) are named after him, including Bigelow's ray, Rajella bigelowi, and Etmopterus bigelowi, a lantern shark.

References

External links Bigelow Laboratory

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Henry Bryant Bigelow

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Henry Bryant Bigelow 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 Henry Bryant Bigelow 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 Henry Bryant Bigelow 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 Henry Bryant Bigelow

In research: Henry Bryant Bigelow 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 Henry Bryant Bigelow 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: Henry Bryant Bigelow is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1879 births, 1967 deaths, 20th-century American zoologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Henry Bryant Bigelow 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.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Henry Bryant Bigelow” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Henry Bryant Bigelow in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Henry Bryant Bigelow in simple terms?

Why does Henry Bryant Bigelow 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 Henry Bryant Bigelow?

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 Henry Bryant Bigelow.