astronomy

James D. Murray

James D. Murray 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 James D. Murray rather than just read about it. In short: James Dickson Murray (born 2 January 1931) is professor emeritus of applied mathematics at University of Washington and University of Oxford. He is best known for his authoritative and extensive work entitled Mathematical Biology.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

James Dickson Murray (born 2 January 1931) is professor emeritus of applied mathematics at University of Washington and University of Oxford. He is best known for his authoritative and extensive work entitled Mathematical Biology.

Early life Murray was born in Moffat, Scotland, and was educated at St. Andrews University, where he received with honours a bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1953. He took his PhD there in 1956.

Research and career His first post was at the University of Durham, UK; later he has held positions at Harvard University, London and Oxford, becoming professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan in 1965, at the age of 34. He later became professor of mathematical biology at the University of Oxford, a fellow and tutor in mathematics at Corpus Christi College, Oxford and founder and director of the Centre for Mathematical Biology. He left Oxford in the late 1980s for the University of Washington in Seattle, where he spent the rest of his career as professor of mathematics and adjunct professor of zoology. His research is characterised by its great range and depth: an early example is his fundamental contributions to understanding the biomechanics of the human body when launched from an aircraft in an ejection seat. He has made contributions to many other areas, ranging from understanding and preventing severe scarring; fingerprint formation; sex determination, modelling of animal coat and territory formation in wolf-deer interacting populations.

Awards and honours Murray was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1979 and a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1985. In 2008 Murray and Professor T. J. Pedley, FRS were jointly awarded the Gold Medal of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications in recognition of their "outstanding contributions to mathematics and its applications over a period of years".

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with James D. Murray

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what James D. Murray 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 James D. Murray 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 D. Murray 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 D. Murray

In research: James D. Murray 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 James D. Murray 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 D. Murray is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1931 births, 20th-century Scottish mathematicians, 21st-century Scottish mathematicians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for James D. Murray 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 D. Murray in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is James D. Murray in simple terms?

Why does James D. Murray 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 James D. Murray?

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 D. Murray.