astronomy

J. Craig Wheeler

J. Craig Wheeler 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 J. Craig Wheeler rather than just read about it. In short: John Craig Wheeler (born 1943) is an American astronomer. He is the Samuel T. and Fern Yanagisawa Regents Professor of Astronomy Emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

John Craig Wheeler (born 1943) is an American astronomer. He is the Samuel T. and Fern Yanagisawa Regents Professor of Astronomy Emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin. He is known for his theoretical work on supernovae. He is a past president of the American Astronomical Society, a Fellow of that society, and a Fellow of the American Physical Society.

Early life and education Wheeler graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1965 with a Bachelor of Science in physics. He was awarded his PhD in physics in 1969 from the University of Colorado Boulder. He then held a postdoctoral fellowship at the California Institute of Technology until 1971.

Career In 1971 Wheeler became an assistant professor in the Department of Astronomy at Harvard University. In 1974 he joined the Department of Astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin. He became the Samuel T. and Fern Yanagisawa Regents Professor of Astronomy in 1985. Wheeler served as the President of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) from 2006 to 2008. He was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2007. In 2008, he became a Legacy Fellow of the AAS. Based on the "Astronomy Bizarre" course he taught for non-majors, Wheeler published Cosmic Catastrophes: Supernovae, Gamma-ray Bursts, and Adventures in Hyperspace in 2000. The second edition, Cosmic Catastrophes: Exploding Stars, Black Holes, and Mapping the Universe, was published in 2007. In 2019 he and David Branch received the Chambliss Astronomical Writing Award for their textbook Supernova Explosions.

Awards and honors 2007 Fellow of the American Physical Society 2008 Legacy Fellow of the American Astronomical Society 2019 Chambliss Astronomical Writing Award

Selected publications

Articles Wheeler, J. Craig; Sneden, Christopher (1989). "Abundance Ratios as a Function of Metallicity". Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics. 27 (1): 279–349. Bibcode:1989ARA&A..27..279W. doi:10.1146/annurev.aa.27.090189.001431. ISSN 0066-4146. Wheeler, J C; Harkness, R P (1990). "Type I supernovae". Reports on Progress in Physics. 53 (12): 1467–1557. Bibcode:1990RPPh...53.1467W. doi:10.1088/0034-4885/53/12/001. ISSN 0034-4885. S2CID 250904965. Wheeler, J. Craig; Yi, Insu; Hoflich, Peter; Wang, Lifan (2000). "Asymmetric Supernovae, Pulsars, Magnetars, and Gamma-Ray Bursts". The Astrophysical Journal. 537 (2): 810–823. arXiv:astro-ph/9909293. Bibcode:2000ApJ...537..810W. doi:10.1086/309055. ISSN 0004-637X. S2CID 40437912. Wang, Lifan; Howell, D. Andrew; Hoflich, Peter; Wheeler, J. Craig (2001). "Bipolar Supernova Explosions". The Astrophysical Journal. 550 (2): 1030–1035. arXiv:astro-ph/9912033. Bibcode:2001ApJ...550.1030W. doi:10.1086/319822. ISSN 0004-637X. S2CID 123003052. Wheeler, J. Craig; Meier, David L.; Wilson, James R. (2002). "Asymmetric Supernovae from Magnetocentrifugal Jets". The Astrophysical Journal. 568 (2): 807–819. arXiv:astro-ph/0112020. Bibcode:2002ApJ...568..807W. doi:10.1086/338953. ISSN 0004-637X. S2CID 118997409. Akiyama, Shizuka; Wheeler, J. Craig; Meier, David L.; Lichtenstadt, Itamar (2003). "The Magnetorotational Instability in Core-Collapse Supernova Explosions". The Astrophysical Journal. 584 (2): 954–970. arXiv:astro-ph/0208128. Bibcode:2003ApJ...584..954A. doi:10.1086/344135. ISSN 0004-637X. S2CID 14720534. Wang, Lifan; Wheeler, J. Craig (2008). "Spectropolarimetry of Supernovae". Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics. 46 (1): 433–474. arXiv:0811.1054. Bibcode:2008ARA&A..46..433W. doi:10.1146/annurev.astro.46.060407.145139. ISSN 0066-4146. S2CID 14259601. Wheeler, J. Craig (2012). "Astrophysical explosions: from solar flares to cosmic gamma-ray bursts". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. 370 (1960): 774–799. arXiv:1111.5584. Bibcode:2012RSPTA.370..774W. doi:10.1098/rsta.2011.0351. ISSN 1364-503X. PMID 22213668. S2CID 1090392.

Books Wheeler, J.C., ed. (1993). Accretion Disks In Compact Stellar Systems. Advanced Series In Astrophysics And Cosmology. World Scientific Publishing Company. ISBN 978-981-4504-59-1. Wheeler, J.C. (2007) [1st ed. 2000]. Cosmic Catastrophes: Exploding Stars, Black Holes, and Mapping the Universe (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-85714-7. Branch, D.; Wheeler, J.C. (2017). Supernova Explosions. Astronomy and Astrophysics Library. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. ISBN 978-3-662-55054-0.

Science fiction Wheeler, J. Craig (1986). The Krone Experiment. Pressworks Publishing. ISBN 0-939722-21-6. Wheeler, J. Craig (2011). Krone Ascending. Independently published. ISBN 979-8786848800. Wheeler, J. Craig (2016). "Betelgeuse". In Brotherton, M. (ed.). Science Fiction by Scientists: An Anthology of Short Stories. Science and Fiction. Springer International Publishing. pp. 95=104. ISBN 978-3-319-41102-6.

References

Further reading "Wheeler - McDonald Observatory". McDonald Observatory. Retrieved 9 December 2021.

External links Curriculum vitae Faculty website

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with J. Craig Wheeler

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what J. Craig Wheeler 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 J. Craig Wheeler 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 J. Craig Wheeler 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 J. Craig Wheeler

In research: J. Craig Wheeler 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 J. Craig Wheeler 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: J. Craig Wheeler is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1943 births, American astronomers, American astrophysicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for J. Craig Wheeler 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 J. Craig Wheeler in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what J. Craig Wheeler 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 J. Craig Wheeler in simple terms?

John Craig Wheeler (born 1943) is an American astronomer. He is the Samuel T. and Fern Yanagisawa Regents Professor of Astronomy Emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin.

Why does J. Craig Wheeler 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 J. Craig Wheeler?

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 J. Craig Wheeler.