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James Hornell

James Hornell is a science 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 Hornell rather than just read about it. In short: James Hornell (1865 – February 1949) was an English zoologist and seafaring ethnographer. He was a cousin of Edward Atkinson Hornel, a Scottish painter.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

James Hornell (1865 – February 1949) was an English zoologist and seafaring ethnographer. He was a cousin of Edward Atkinson Hornel, a Scottish painter.

Career As a zoologist Hornell published a number of papers on marine organisms working most notably with his father in law Joseph Sinel in Jersey, and in 1900 traveled to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) to report on the pearl fisheries. Staying there for six years, Hornell published a number of papers on the pearling industry. While there he was elected a Fellow of the Linnean Society for his work on marine worms. After working for several more years in India, organizing the fisheries of Madras, he retired, and thus began his next career as an ethnographer of seafarming and maritime life. He traveled extensively around the Indian Ocean world and east Asia, making records of indigenous watercraft, sailing on Junks and Sampans, and as a member of an expedition to the south seas made many records of the watercraft of Polynesia. Further travels brought encounters with watercraft of northern India, the Mediterranean, the Nile, Uganda, Madagascar, Iraq, and northern Europe. Hornell was the Scientific Director of the St George expedition to the South Pacific which took place in 1924-1925. In the 1930s became the principal authority on traditional, indigenous watercraft particular logboats, skin boats, canoes of all types, floats and even small ships. His work is distinguished by careful observation and measurement and supported by drawings and photographs of seafaring life all but vanished over the second half of the twentieth century. James Hornell also collected string games. He collected string figures from Africa, Asia and Pacifics Islands.

Published works Among his publications are:

James Hornell (1914). The sacred Chank of India: A monograph of the Indian Conch (Turbinella pyrum) - Online Book. The Superintendent, Government Press, Madras. String Figures from Fiji and Western Polynesia (1927) The String Games and Tricks of Sierra Leone (1928) Cat's Cradles, the World's Most Widespread Game (1928) String Figures from Sierra Leone, Libera, and Zanzibar (1930) The Cypriote Threshing Sledge (1930) String Figures from British New Guinea (1932) String Figures from Gujarat and Kathiawar (1932) Indonesian Influence in East African Culture (1934) Report on the Fisheries of Palestine (1934). A brochure which describes first attempts of growing common carp in Palestine. British Coracles and Irish Currachs with a note on the Guffah of Iraq (1938 as a book from Society for Nautical Research, previously a series of articles in their journal). String Figures from Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (1940) String Figure Diffusion (1943) The Canoes of Polynesia, Fiji and Micronesia; The Fishing Luggers of Hastings; and Water Transport: Origins and Early Evolution. "Water Transport" Sinhalese String Figures and Tricks (1999) String Figures from Burma (1999)

References

Works by James Hornal Open Library

External links Tribute to James Hornell [1] Works by or about James Hornell at the Internet Archive

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with James Hornell

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

In research
James Hornell appears in science 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 Hornell 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 Hornell is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1865 births, 1949 deaths, British ethnographers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for James Hornell 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 Hornell in 20 minutes

  1. Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
  2. Close the page and write down what James Hornell means in your own words.
  3. Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
  4. Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
  5. Explain James Hornell out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is James Hornell in simple terms?

James Hornell (1865 – February 1949) was an English zoologist and seafaring ethnographer. He was a cousin of Edward Atkinson Hornel, a Scottish painter.

Why does James Hornell matter?

Because it connects several science 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 Hornell?

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 Hornell.

Tags

  • 1865 births
  • 1949 deaths
  • British ethnographers
  • English zoologists
  • Fellows of the Linnean Society of London

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