engineering

James Arthur Banks

James Arthur Banks is a engineering 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 James Arthur Banks rather than just read about it. In short: James Arthur Banks (1897 – 1 December 1967) was a Scottish civil engineer. Banks was born in Glasgow in 1897.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

James Arthur Banks (1897 – 1 December 1967) was a Scottish civil engineer. Banks was born in Glasgow in 1897. He attended Woodside Higher Grade School in Glasgow. During World War I he served in the Royal Marine Engineers, from 1914 to 1918. He initially trained as a structural engineer and then joined Babtie, Shaw and Morton in 1921 to train as a civil engineer. He worked in England and the US and returned to Babtie, Shaw and Morton in 1929. His speciality was the design and construction of dams for water supply and power generation, commencing with Afton Reservoir. He became a partner of the firm in 1931 and was senior partner from 1940 to 1966. He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1944. He was appointed an officer of the same order in the New Year Honours of 1947 and a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order on 31 May 1963. From 1961 Banks was chairman of the International Commission on Large Dams and was Consulting Engineer to Queen Elizabeth II for the Balmoral Estate and a member of the Court of the University of Strathclyde. He served as president of the Institution of Civil Engineers from November 1965 to November 1966 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh on 6 March 1967. He died on 1 December 1967.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with James Arthur Banks

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what James Arthur Banks claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, 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 James Arthur Banks 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 James Arthur Banks 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 James Arthur Banks

In research: James Arthur Banks appears in engineering 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 James Arthur Banks 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: James Arthur Banks is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1897 births, 1967 deaths, 20th-century Scottish businesspeople, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for James Arthur Banks 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 James Arthur Banks in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is James Arthur Banks in simple terms?

James Arthur Banks (1897 – 1 December 1967) was a Scottish civil engineer. Banks was born in Glasgow in 1897.

Why does James Arthur Banks matter?

Because it connects several engineering 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 James Arthur Banks?

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 James Arthur Banks.