physics

Hugh Newall

Hugh Newall 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 Newall rather than just read about it. In short: Hugh Frank Newall (21 June 1857 – 22 February 1944) was a British astrophysicist. He was Professor of Astrophysics (1909) at Cambridge.

Key takeaways

Hugh Newall 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 Newall to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Hugh Newall from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Hugh Frank Newall (21 June 1857 – 22 February 1944) was a British astrophysicist. He was Professor of Astrophysics (1909) at Cambridge. He was the son of Robert Stirling Newall FRS and his wife Mary, daughter of Hugh Lee Pattinson, FRS. Newall took the Mathematics and Natural Sciences Tripos from Trinity College, Cambridge, and was elected Fellow in 1909. His father was an astronomer, and the Newall Telescope, a 25-inch refractor, built at Gateshead, was in its time the largest in existence. As things turned out, the telescope would dominate the son's life. Newall took up school mastering at Wellington after graduating. He returned to Cambridge when J.J. Thomson, the Nobel prizewinning physicist, asked him to be his assistant. After a period as demonstrator in experimental physics at the Cavendish Laboratory he turned to astronomy. This came about because in 1889 the university was offered Newall senior's telescope, but claimed to lack the funds to receive it and use it. Newall (junior) thereupon paid the removal expenses and then served as observer, and, from 1909 to 1928, as first holder of the chair of astrophysics, without a stipend. The telescope was installed beside the 1810 telescope at the Observatory on Madingley Road, and Newall built a home at Madingley Rise which became for half a century a resort of visiting astronomers. He served as president of the Royal Astronomical Society for a customary two-year term, 1907–1909.

In 1913 he became the first director of the Solar Physics Observatory. Though elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in June 1902 for work on the spectrum of Capella, Newall was more a facilitator than a creative scientist. He led many eclipse expeditions. He married twice, first to Margaret (a pianist) the granddaughter of Thomas Arnold, the famed headmaster of Rugby School, and second, Dame Bertha Surtees Phillpotts, Scandinavian Scholar, formerly Mistress of Girton College, and the only woman member of the Royal Commission on Cambridge (1923-7), who is buried in Tunbridge Wells. He is buried in the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge.

External links Hugh Newall at Find a Grave [1] Trinity College Chapel

References

Alumni Cantabrigienses NEWALL, Hugh Frank’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2012; online edn, Oct 2012 accessed 28 Feb 2013

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hugh Newall

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

In research: Hugh Newall 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 Newall 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 Newall is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1857 births, 1944 deaths, Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hugh Newall 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 Newall in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Hugh Newall in simple terms?

Hugh Frank Newall (21 June 1857 – 22 February 1944) was a British astrophysicist. He was Professor of Astrophysics (1909) at Cambridge.

Why does Hugh Newall 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 Newall?

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 Newall.