astronomy

J. Murdoch Ritchie

J. Murdoch Ritchie 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. Murdoch Ritchie rather than just read about it. In short: Joseph Murdoch Ritchie (June 10, 1925 – July 9, 2008) was a Scottish born American biophysicist and a professor at Yale University. Early life and education Ritchie studied mathematics and physics at the University of Aberdeen, then did his doctorate at University College, London in biophysics in 1952.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Joseph Murdoch Ritchie (June 10, 1925 – July 9, 2008) was a Scottish born American biophysicist and a professor at Yale University.

Early life and education Ritchie studied mathematics and physics at the University of Aberdeen, then did his doctorate at University College, London in biophysics in 1952.

Career He joined the faculty at Yale in pharmacology in 1968, and later served as chairman of the department and as director of the division of biological sciences (1975–1978). He retired in 2003. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1976. According to his nomination citation "Ritchie's early work was concerned with the factors affecting the onset and duration of the active state in striated muscle, and with other aspects of the dynamics of muscular contraction. In 1954 he turned his attention to the properties of mammalian non-myelinated nerve fibres, and since then has made many distinguished contributions to our knowledge not only of some of the physiological functions served by such fibres, but also of the mechanism of conduction in them. In particular, he has been responsible for definitive studies of the mode of action of acetylcholine and local anaesthetics, of the ionic movements during nervous activity, of the temperature changes during the nervous impulse, of oxidative and glucose metabolism, and of the electrogenic sodium extrusion that underlies post-tetanic hyperpolarization. His most recent work on the specific and non-specific binding of tetrodotoxin has provided new information about the density of sodium channels in various types of nerve." Ritchie is known for asking the Central Intelligence Agency in 1975 to share its supply of saxitoxin (which were used in suicide pills) with scientists for research and his work in neuroscience. He was the co-author of numerous scientific and technical books and articles.

Personal life He was married to Brenda Bigland–Ritchie, a physiologist and biomechanist. They had a son, Alasdair Ritchie, a biologist, and a daughter, Jocelyn Ritchie, a neuropsychologist.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with J. Murdoch Ritchie

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what J. Murdoch Ritchie 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. Murdoch Ritchie 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. Murdoch Ritchie 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. Murdoch Ritchie

In research: J. Murdoch Ritchie 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. Murdoch Ritchie 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. Murdoch Ritchie is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1925 births, 2008 deaths, Alumni of University College London, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for J. Murdoch Ritchie 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. Murdoch Ritchie in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is J. Murdoch Ritchie in simple terms?

Joseph Murdoch Ritchie (June 10, 1925 – July 9, 2008) was a Scottish born American biophysicist and a professor at Yale University. Early life and education Ritchie studied mathematics and physics at the University of Aberdeen, then did his doctorate at University College, London in biophysics in 1…

Why does J. Murdoch Ritchie 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. Murdoch Ritchie?

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. Murdoch Ritchie.