physics

Irvine Clifton Gardner

Irvine Clifton Gardner 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 Irvine Clifton Gardner rather than just read about it. In short: Dr. Irvine Clifton Gardner (1889 – 1972) was an American physicist known for his contributions to optics and aerial photography.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Dr. Irvine Clifton Gardner (1889 – 1972) was an American physicist known for his contributions to optics and aerial photography.

Biography Gardner was born in 1889. In 1921, he joined the National Bureau of Standards (NBS), and in 1950, became chief of the Division of Optics and Meteorology. He headed a joint NBS-National Geographic Society expedition to Kazakhstan to observe the solar eclipse of June 19, 1936. The team took used a four-meter eclipse camera with a 23-centimeter astrographic lens to take the first natural color photographs of a solar eclipse. The next year Gardner joined a National Geographic-U.S. Navy expedition to the Canton Islands to photograph the solar eclipse of June 8, 1937. He retired from the Bureau of Standards in 1959. Gardner was the president of the Optical Society of America in 1958. He was also noted for his work in the field of spectroscopy.

Awards and honors In 1954, he was awarded the Frederic Ives Medal by the Optical Society of America; he was made a fellow of the OSA in 1959. In 1955, he was awarded a fellowship of the Society of Imaging Science and Technology. The Gardner Inlet and the crater Gardner on the Moon are named after him.

Bibliography "An optical system for reading the angular deflection of a mirror", Journal of the Optical Society of America, vol. 12, 1926. "The Optical Requirements of Airplane Mapping", Bureau of Standards Journal of Research, Vol. 8, 1932. "Observing an Eclipse in Asiatic Russia", National Geographic, February, 1937. "Validity of the Cosine-Fourth-Power law of Illumination", Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards, Vol. 39, September 1947. "Research and Development in Applied Optics and Optical Glass at the National Bureau of Standards; a Review and Bibliography", Washington Government Printing Office, 1949.

References

External links Irvine Clifton Gardner student notes, 1911-1912, Niels Bohr Library & Archives

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Irvine Clifton Gardner

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Irvine Clifton Gardner 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 Irvine Clifton Gardner 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 Irvine Clifton Gardner 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 Irvine Clifton Gardner

In research: Irvine Clifton Gardner 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 Irvine Clifton Gardner 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: Irvine Clifton Gardner is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1889 births, 1972 deaths, 20th-century American physicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Irvine Clifton Gardner 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 Irvine Clifton Gardner in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Irvine Clifton Gardner in simple terms?

Dr. Irvine Clifton Gardner (1889 – 1972) was an American physicist known for his contributions to optics and aerial photography.

Why does Irvine Clifton Gardner 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 Irvine Clifton Gardner?

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 Irvine Clifton Gardner.