physics

Hugh Coe

Hugh Coe 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 Hugh Coe rather than just read about it. In short: Hugh Coe is a British atmospheric physicist, currently Head of Atmospheric Sciences and Professor of Atmospheric Composition at the University of Manchester. His research investigates the physics and chemistry of atmospheric aerosols, including their role in climate change and air pollution.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Hugh Coe is a British atmospheric physicist, currently Head of Atmospheric Sciences and Professor of Atmospheric Composition at the University of Manchester. His research investigates the physics and chemistry of atmospheric aerosols, including their role in climate change and air pollution.

Early life and career Coe took a BSc in physics at Newcastle University in 1989, followed by a PhD titled "The Exchange of Nitrogen Dioxide and Ozone Between Vegetation and the Atmosphere" at UMIST in 1993. He has worked at the University of Manchester ever since.

Research interests Coe studies the physics and chemistry of aerosols in the atmosphere, including the part they play in climate change through interactions with clouds and solar radiation. He also studies the role of aerosols in the transport of air pollution, including regional and transboundary (long-distance) pollution caused by biomass burning and atmospheric dust. Coe has worked on air pollution studies in the UK, India, and China, and was the principal investigator of a major study into air pollution in the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Coe has also helped to develop new analytic techniques for studying air pollution. These include "transformative" approaches to aerosol mass spectrometry, which have led to "an unprecedented understanding of the global distribution of atmospheric fine particulate matter composition", and using the single particle soot photometer for studying how particulates are transported.

Awards Coe was awarded the Vilhelm Bjerknes Medal (2022) for "pioneering the science of atmospheric composition through instrument development and fine particle measurements, to study their impact on air quality, clouds and climate". According to the European Geosciences Union, which made the award: "Hugh Coe’s body of work on understanding the chemistry and global distribution of aerosols provide the underpinning data used to develop and test our global atmospheric models, and are foundational in our assessments of air pollution and climate change". Coe was recognised as one of the 100 Most Highly Cited Researchers in Geosciences in 2014 and 2018 by Clarivate. In 2015, Coe was a joint recipient of a British Academy Newton Advanced Fellowship, with Lin Wang of Fudan University, for research into secondary organic aerosols using time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

Media appearances Coe has made a number of radio, TV, and press appearances as an expert on air pollution issues, including such topics as Manchester's urban pollution and its proposed clean-air zone, the atmospheric modelling of Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption in 2010, and reductions in air pollution during the COVID-19 lockdowns.

Selected publications

Papers Canagaratna, M.R.; Jayne, J.T.; Jimenez, J.L.; Allan, J.D.; Alfarra, M.R.; et al. (17 January 2007). "Chemical and microphysical characterization of ambient aerosols with the aerodyne aerosol mass spectrometer". Mass Spectrometry Reviews. 26 (2): 185–222. Bibcode:2007MSRv...26..185C. doi:10.1002/mas.20115. eISSN 1098-2787. ISSN 0277-7037. PMID 17230437. Zhang, Q.; Jimenez, J. L.; Canagaratna, M. R.; Allan, J. D.; Coe, H.; et al. (7 July 2007). "Ubiquity and dominance of oxygenated species in organic aerosols in anthropogenically-influenced Northern Hemisphere midlatitudes". Geophysical Research Letters. 34 (13): n/a. Bibcode:2007GeoRL..3413801Z. doi:10.1029/2007GL029979. ISSN 0094-8276. S2CID 42885140. Jimenez, J. L.; Canagaratna, M. R.; Donahue, N. M.; Prevot, A. S. H.; Zhang, Q.; et al. (11 December 2009). "Evolution of Organic Aerosols in the Atmosphere". Science. 326 (5959): 1525–1529. Bibcode:2009Sci...326.1525J. doi:10.1126/science.1180353. eISSN 1095-9203. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 20007897. S2CID 24417049.

Books and book chapters Hugh Coe; James D. Allen (2008). ""Mass spectrometric methods for aerosol composition measurement"". In Dwayne Heard (ed.). Analytical Techniques for Atmospheric Measurement. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 165–310. ISBN 978-1-4051-7144-1.

References

External links Official website

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hugh Coe

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hugh Coe 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 Hugh Coe 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 Hugh Coe 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 Hugh Coe

In research: Hugh Coe 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 Hugh Coe 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: Hugh Coe is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Academics of the University of Manchester, Air pollution in the United Kingdom, Alumni of Newcastle University, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hugh Coe 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 Hugh Coe in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Hugh Coe in simple terms?

Why does Hugh Coe 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 Hugh Coe?

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 Hugh Coe.