astronomy

Ilma Grace Stone

Ilma Grace Stone 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 Ilma Grace Stone rather than just read about it. In short: Ilma Grace Stone (1913 – 2001), née Balfe, was an Australian botanist who specialised in bryology. She was an author, collector, and researcher of Australian mosses, a subject on which she lectured and wrote.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Ilma Grace Stone (1913 – 2001), née Balfe, was an Australian botanist who specialised in bryology. She was an author, collector, and researcher of Australian mosses, a subject on which she lectured and wrote.

Scientific career Stone studied at the Department of Botany in University of Melbourne from 1930 - 1934, graduating with an MSc involving a thesis on sclerotia-forming fungi that cause disease in ornamental plants. However, she did not begin her career studying bryophytes until 1957 when she was appointed as a demonstrator in the Department of Botany at University of Melbourne, at first part-time and then full-time. Her PhD was awarded in 1963 for A morphogenetic study of stage in the life-cycle of some Victorial cryptograms. She was awarded a D.Sc. by the University of Melbourne where she was an Honorary Research Fellow when she was 76. She officially retired from the university in 1978 but continued to research and publish until her death in 2001. She was initially interested in ferns but from 1969 specialised in mosses. In 1983 she published a description of a new species, Fissidens gymnocarpus, and continued to contribute to moss taxonomy. She is noted for keen observation and attention to often small and overlooked moss species, and for her contributions to their taxonomy. She was also an impressive field bryologist. Stone is credited with significantly increasing knowledge of mosses in Australia, especially those in Queensland. She was particularly expert in the genera Acaulon, Pleuridium, Eccremidium, Astomum and Nanobryum as well as the moss floras of Victoria and Queensland, the tropical mosses of Australia and those with permanent protonema. In addition, her work on the Australian Fissidens in collaboration with David Catcheside made significant improvements to its taxonomy.

Publications Stone published more than 70 papers during her career, the first when aged 48 and eleven after the age of 80.

The Mosses of Southern Australia with George Anderson Macdonald Scott, published in 1976. Illustrations by Celia Rosser. Over 70 research papers, including:

Stone, IG. (1958) The gametophyte and embryo of Polyphlebium venosum (R.Br.) Copeland (Hymenophyllaceae). Aust. J. Bot. 6: 183–203. Stone, IG. (1961) The highly refractive protonema of Mittenia plumula (Mitt) Lindb. Proc. R. Soc. Vicr. 74: 119–124. Stone, IG. (1971) The sporophyte of Tortula pagorum (Milde) De Not. Trans. Brit. Bryol. Soc. 6: 270–277. Stone, IG. (1975) A remarkable new moss from Queensland, Australia. Viridivellus pulchellum, new genus and species (new family Viridivelleraceae). J. Bryology 9: 21–31. Stone. IG. (1979) Acaulon eremicola, a new moss from the Australian arid zone. J. Bryology 10: 467–474. Stone, IG. (1980) Phascopsis rubicunda, a new genus and species of Pottiaceae from Australia. J. Bryology 11: 17–31. Stone, IG. (1983) Fissidens gymnocarpus, a new species from Queensland, Australia. J. Bryology 12: 553–557. Stone, IG. (1988) Acaulon granulosum, a new species in the Acaulon muticum complex; a comparison and key to Australian species. J. Bryology. 15: 257–268. Catcheside, D.G. & Stone, IG. (1988) The mosses of the Northern Territory, Australia. J. Adelaide Bot. Gard. 11: 1–17. Stone, IG. (1989) A revision of Phascum and Acaulon in Australia. J. Bryology 15: 745–777. Stone, IG & Catcheside DG (1993) Two new species, Fissidens oblatus and F. badyinbarus, from Queensland, Australia. J. Bryology 17: 621–626. Stone, IG (1996) A revision of Ephemeraceae in Australia. Journal of Bryology 19: 279–295. Stone, IG (1997) A revision of Erpodiaceae with particular reference to Australian taxa. J. Bryology 19: 485–502. Beever JE & Stone IG (1999) Studies of Fissidens (Bryophyta: Musci): new taxa and new records for New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 37: 643–657.

She described 25 species, several genera and one new moss family. Her collection of around 25,000 specimens were primarily held in the University of Melbourne Herbarium. However, they were consolidated in 2001 and are now held at the National Herbarium of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. Stone's collection is particularly comprehensive for bryophytes of tropical areas of Australia.

Awards and honours In 1989 she was awarded a D.Sc. by the University of Melbourne where she was an Honorary Research Fellow. She was elected an Honorary Member of the British Bryological Society in 1982. Several species of moss have been named in her honour. This includes two genera (Stonea and Stoneobryum) and two species:

Stonea oleaginosa (I.G. Stone) R.H. Zander Phytologia 65:432. Stoneobryum bunyaense D.H. Norris & H. Robinson Bryologist 84: 96. Stoneobryum mirum (Lewinsky) D.H. Norris & H. Robinson Bryologist 84: 98. Macromitrium stoneae Vitt & H.P. Ramsay J. Hattori Bot. Lab. 59: 400. Syrrhopodon stoneae W. Reese Bryologist 92: 302. In 2023, as part of the new development of Macnamara, Australian Capital Territory, the suburb's landmarks were chosen to posthumously commemorate ten people associated with science and technology. This included naming one of the roads Ilma Stone Way.

Early education and personal life She was born in Brunswick, Victoria in Australia in 1913 and was educated at Ivanhoe Girls Grammar School, financed by a scholarship. She excelled in English and Botany. After gaining her MSc degree from University of Melbourne, rather than continue her studies at University of Cambridge in the UK, she chose to marry. She was married to Alan Stone and they had three children. For the first 20 years of her marriage her family took precedence over her career.

References

"Stone, Ilma Grace (1913-2001)". Author Details. IPNI.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Ilma Grace Stone

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Ilma Grace Stone 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 Ilma Grace Stone 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 Ilma Grace Stone 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 Ilma Grace Stone

In research: Ilma Grace Stone 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 Ilma Grace Stone 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: Ilma Grace Stone is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1913 births, 2001 deaths, 20th-century Australian botanists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Ilma Grace Stone 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 Ilma Grace Stone in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Ilma Grace Stone 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.
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Frequently asked questions

What is Ilma Grace Stone in simple terms?

Why does Ilma Grace Stone 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 Ilma Grace Stone?

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 Ilma Grace Stone.