physics

James M. Turner (physicist)

James M. Turner (physicist) is a physics 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 M. Turner (physicist) rather than just read about it. In short: James Marshall Turner is an American physicist and retired government official. Over the course of his career, he served as Director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of International Affairs and as deputy director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

James Marshall Turner is an American physicist and retired government official. Over the course of his career, he served as Director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of International Affairs and as deputy director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Turner was also a founding member of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Black Students' Union.

Early life and education James Turner was raised in Washington, D.C., and attended Gonzaga College High School. He completed his undergraduate studies at Johns Hopkins University, and received his doctorate in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. While at MIT, Turner was a co-founder and one of the first co-chairs of the university's Black Students' Union, along with fellow students Charles Kidwell, Shirley Ann Jackson, Ronald E. Mickens, Sekazi Mtingwa, Jennifer Rudd, Nathan Seely, and Linda Sharpe. In 1968, the group issued the following demands to the MIT administration: "an increase in the number of black students and staff, as well as support for these students; the formation of a pre-freshman summer program (Project Interphase); and the development of a Task Force on Educational Opportunity."

Career After completing his doctoral studies, Turner was on the faculty of Southern University and Morehouse College in the physics department. At Morehouse, he was an Associate Professor of Physics and Engineering for five years beginning in 1973. As a professor there, he was advisor to the college's chapter of the Sigma Pi Sigma student society. During this time, he was also a member of the Committee on Opportunities in Science for the American Association for the Advancement of Science, as well as on similar committees for the American Geophysical Union and the American Meteorological Society. Turner subsequently began a career in federal government that would last 37 years. He served as Senior Executive Service and served as the Assistant Deputy Administrator for Nuclear Risk Reduction in the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration. He also served as a deputy director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology beginning in April 2007; and was later director in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of International Affairs and Senior Adviser to the NOAA Administrator. He retired from the NOAA in 2013. Turner is a member of numerous professional organizations, including the American Physical Society, the American Chemical Society, the American Nuclear Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, ASTM, the Council on Foreign Relations, IEEE, Phi Beta Kappa, and Sigma Xi. He is currently director of the Daniel Alexander Payne Community Development Corporation Percy Julian Institute.

Awards Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science U.S. Government Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Service DOE Exceptional Service Award Secretary of Energy Gold Award Edward Bouchet Legacy Award (2019)

Personal life Turner is married and has three children and five grandchildren.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with James M. Turner (physicist)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what James M. Turner (physicist) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, 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 M. Turner (physicist) 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 M. Turner (physicist) 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 M. Turner (physicist)

In research: James M. Turner (physicist) appears in physics 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 M. Turner (physicist) 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 M. Turner (physicist) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics African-American physicists, American physicists, Johns Hopkins University alumni, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for James M. Turner (physicist) 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 M. Turner (physicist) in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is James M. Turner (physicist) in simple terms?

Why does James M. Turner (physicist) matter?

Because it connects several physics 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 M. Turner (physicist)?

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 M. Turner (physicist).