astronomy

J. G. Lemmon

J. G. Lemmon 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. G. Lemmon rather than just read about it. In short: John Gill Lemmon (January 2, 1832 – November 24, 1908) was an American botanist and Civil War veteran and former prisoner of Andersonville. He was married to fellow botanist, Sara Plummer Lemmon, and the two jointly cataloged numerous western and desert plants.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

John Gill Lemmon (January 2, 1832 – November 24, 1908) was an American botanist and Civil War veteran and former prisoner of Andersonville. He was married to fellow botanist, Sara Plummer Lemmon, and the two jointly cataloged numerous western and desert plants.

Biography Lemmon was born in Lima Township, Michigan, on January 2, 1832 to William Lemmon and Amila (Hudson) Lemmon, a descendant of explorer Henry Hudson. He was a schoolteacher for eight years, before attending the University of Michigan. He enlisted in the Union Army in June 1862, and was involved in numerous engagements in the American Civil War. In August 1864, Lemmon was captured by the Confederates, and subsequently held as a prisoner of war in the Florence, South Carolina prison camp and at the notorious Andersonville Prison. After being freed on March 1, 1865, he moved to Sierraville, California, to stay with family while he recuperated. He returned to teaching, and acquired an interest in botany. Lemmon began corresponding with Henry Bolander at the California Academy of Sciences and Asa Gray at Harvard University, as he identified more hitherto uncatalogued plants. It was only botanical work that gave him solace from the horrors of Andersonville Prison. Gray named the new genus Plummera, now called Hymenoxys, in his wife's honor. Eventually, he became known as "the botanist of the West". While visiting Santa Barbara on a collecting and lecture expedition, Lemmon met Sara Plummer, a transplanted East Coast artist and intellectual who had developed an interest in botany. The two corresponded for several years, marrying in 1880. They took a "botanical wedding trip" to Arizona in 1881, cataloging many desert and mountain plants, and climbed to the peak of the mountain they christened Mount Lemmon, after Sara, the first European-descended woman to make that ascent. On their return, they continued their botanical activities, ultimately establishing the Lemmon Herbarium, now part of UC Berkeley's University and Jepson Herbaria. J.G. and Sara lived and established their herbarium at No. 5985 Telegraph Avenue. From 1888 to 1892, Lemmon served as the state botanist for the California State Board of Forestry. J.G. Lemmon died November 24, 1908, aged 76, in Oakland, California.

Selected papers John Gill Lemmon, Recollections of Rebel Prisons --. Ferns of the Pacific Including Arizona (1882) --. Handbook of West American Cone-Bearers (1900) --. Conebearers --. Oaks of the Pacific Slope (1902) --. Discovery of the Potato in Arizona (1883) --. Pacific Coast Flowers and Ferns (1880) -- and Sara Allen Plummer Lemmon, How to Tell the Trees and Forest Endowment of Pacific Slope (1902) The standard author abbreviation Lemmon is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.

References

External links Works by or about J. G. Lemmon at the Internet Archive J. G. Lemmon at Find a Grave

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with J. G. Lemmon

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what J. G. Lemmon 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. G. Lemmon 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. G. Lemmon 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. G. Lemmon

In research: J. G. Lemmon 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. G. Lemmon 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. G. Lemmon is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1832 births, 1908 deaths, American Civil War prisoners of war held by the Confederate States of America, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for J. G. Lemmon 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. G. Lemmon in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is J. G. Lemmon in simple terms?

Why does J. G. Lemmon 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. G. Lemmon?

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. G. Lemmon.