astronomy

Ivan Murray Johnston

Ivan Murray Johnston 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 Ivan Murray Johnston rather than just read about it. In short: Ivan Murray Johnston (February 28, 1898 – May 31, 1960) was an American botanist who spent most of his career at Harvard University and the Arnold Arboretum. Life and career Johnston was born in Los Angeles to physician William M.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Ivan Murray Johnston (February 28, 1898 – May 31, 1960) was an American botanist who spent most of his career at Harvard University and the Arnold Arboretum.

Life and career Johnston was born in Los Angeles to physician William M. Johnston and Dora Etta (Farnsworth) Johnston. He studied botany at Pomona College and received his AB from University of California at Berkeley in 1920, his MA from Berkeley in 1922, and his PhD from Harvard University in 1925. After graduation, he conducted field work in Chile on a Sheldon Travelling Fellowship from Harvard and received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1932. He spent most of his career at Harvard University, starting out as an assistant in the Gray Herbarium from 1922 to 1931 and gaining promotions to research associate at the Arnold Arboretum in 1931 and associate professor of botany in 1938. From 1948 to 1953 he also worked as associate director of the Arnold Arboretum. He died suddenly at home in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, on May 31, 1960. Johnston was considered a leading authority on the family Boraginaceae. He collected algae, pteridophytes and spermatophytes and traveled widely to collect specimens in the Andes, Panama, the southwestern United States, and northern Mexico. His plant collections are housed in the California Botanic Garden and the Harvard University Herbaria. He published extensively in Fieldiana, Journal of the Arnold Arboretum, Revista Chilena de Historia Natural, and other scientific journals.

Honors In 1925, German botanist August Brand named a genus of flowering plants (belonging to the family Boraginaceae) from South America and the southern United States, as Johnstonella in Johnston's honour. Then in 1933, German botanist Otto Eugen Schulz named a genus of flowering plants (belonging to the family Brassicaceae) from Chile as Ivania. In 1936, Chinese botanist Hsen Hsu Hu published Sinojohnstonia, which is a genus of flowering plants from China, belonging to the family Boraginaceae. In 1975, Somali-Pakistani botanist Syed Muhammad Anwar Kazmi named a monotypic genus of flowering plants (belonging to the family Boraginaceae), from the Western Himalayas as Ivanjohnstonia in his honour. Johnston was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Society of Plant Taxonomists, the Botanical Society of America, the American Society of Naturalists, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the New England Botanical Club, and Sigma Xi. He was a corresponding member of the National Academies of Sciences of Argentina and Chile.

Taxa named by Johnston Some taxa named by Johnston include the following.

Fitzroya cupressoides Leucophyllum frutescens Astragalus sprucei Euplassa Euplassa occidentalis Fuchsia hypoleuca Brunnera macrophylla

References

Further reading James Stuart Miller, Mary Sue Taylor, and Erin Rempala. (2005). Ivan M. Johnston's Studies in the Boraginaceae. Missouri Botanical Garden. ISBN 1-930723-44-X Robert Jan 'Roy' van de Hoek. (2005). Restoration and Recovery for Elna Bakker and Ivan Johnston. "R&R" for the Playa del Rey Frogs and Plants.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Ivan Murray Johnston

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Ivan Murray Johnston 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 Ivan Murray Johnston 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 Ivan Murray Johnston 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 Ivan Murray Johnston

In research: Ivan Murray Johnston 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 Ivan Murray Johnston 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: Ivan Murray Johnston is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1898 births, 1960 deaths, 20th-century American botanists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Ivan Murray Johnston 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 Ivan Murray Johnston in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Ivan Murray Johnston in simple terms?

Ivan Murray Johnston (February 28, 1898 – May 31, 1960) was an American botanist who spent most of his career at Harvard University and the Arnold Arboretum. Life and career Johnston was born in Los Angeles to physician William M.

Why does Ivan Murray Johnston 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 Ivan Murray Johnston?

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 Ivan Murray Johnston.