astronomy

Jack Pettigrew

Jack Pettigrew 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 Jack Pettigrew rather than just read about it. In short: John Douglas "Jack" Pettigrew (2 October 1943 – 7 May 2019) was an Australian neuroscientist. He was Emeritus Professor of Physiology and Director of the Vision, Touch and Hearing Research Centre at the University of Queensland in Australia.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

John Douglas "Jack" Pettigrew (2 October 1943 – 7 May 2019) was an Australian neuroscientist. He was Emeritus Professor of Physiology and Director of the Vision, Touch and Hearing Research Centre at the University of Queensland in Australia.

Research Pettigrew's research interest was in comparative neuroscience. He studied a variety of different birds and mammals with modern neuronal tracing techniques to unravel principles of brain organisation. He was the chief proponent of the flying primate hypothesis, which was based on the similarity between the brains of megabats and primates. Special emphasis was placed on the visual, auditory and somatosensory systems. Pettigrew was the first person to clarify the neurobiological basis of stereopsis when he described neurones sensitive to binocular disparity. Later, he discovered that owls have independently evolved a system of binocular neurones like those found in mammals. Pettigrew showed evidence for a role for non-visual pathways in the phenomenon of developmental neuroplasticity during the postnatal critical period. Pettigrew used binocular rivalry as an assay for interhemispheric switching, whose rhythm is altered in bipolar disorder.

Honours and awards Pettigrew's scientific work was recognised by several honours and awards, including becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society of London (FRS) in 1987, becoming a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (FAA) in the same year, and being awarded the Centenary Medal in 2001 for service to Australian society and science in phylogeny.

Other notable activity In the 1960s and 1970s, Pettigrew was an accomplished rock climber. His most notable climb came in 1965 when together with Bryden Allen, John Davis, and David Witham he was the first to climb the 562 m (1,844 ft) high Ball's Pyramid, the tallest volcanic stack in the world.

References

External links

Researchers unmask the living brain Mystery of the Min Min lights explained New theory on manic-depression Batman's place in evolution The man in the bat Megabats, microbats and the most interesting gene in the genome

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Jack Pettigrew

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Jack Pettigrew 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 Jack Pettigrew 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 Jack Pettigrew 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 Jack Pettigrew

In research: Jack Pettigrew 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 Jack Pettigrew 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: Jack Pettigrew is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1943 births, 2019 deaths, Academic staff of the University of Queensland, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Jack Pettigrew 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 Jack Pettigrew in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Jack Pettigrew in simple terms?

Why does Jack Pettigrew 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 Jack Pettigrew?

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 Jack Pettigrew.