astronomy

James Michael Moran

James Michael Moran 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 Michael Moran rather than just read about it. In short: James Moran is an American radio astronomer living in Massachusetts, USA. He was a professor of Astronomy at Harvard University from 1989 through 2016, a senior radio astronomer at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory from 1981 through 2020 and the director of the Submillimeter Array during its construction and early operational phases from 1995 through 2005.

Key takeaways

James Michael Moran 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 Michael Moran to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of James Michael Moran from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

James Moran is an American radio astronomer living in Massachusetts, USA. He was a professor of Astronomy at Harvard University from 1989 through 2016, a senior radio astronomer at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory from 1981 through 2020 and the director of the Submillimeter Array during its construction and early operational phases from 1995 through 2005. In 1998 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, in 2010 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in 2020 to the American Philosophical Society. He is currently the Donald H. Menzel Professor of Astrophysics, Emeritus, at Harvard University. Dr. Moran is perhaps best known for his VLBI studies of 22 GHz water maser emission from the nucleus of the galaxy NGC 4258 (M106). These observations provided compelling evidence of a supermassive black hole in the center of that galaxy, and a precise value for the black hole's mass. Monitoring of the proper motion of the individual maser spots in the black hole's accretion disk allowed a direct measurement of the distance to NGC 4258, which provided an important calibrator for the use of Cepheid variable stars as distance indicators. Dr. Moran wrote, along with Richard Thompson and George Swenson, a comprehensive graduate-level textbook on radio interferometry: Interferometry and Synthesis in Radio Astronomy, the third edition of which was published in 2017. It is an open-access book, available for free online. Dr. Moran was the thesis advisor for 13 Ph.D. students during his time as a Harvard professor.

Awards Rumford Prize (1971) (shared), American Academy of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Publication Award (1975) (shared), Naval Research Laboratory Newton Lacy Pierce Prize (1978), American Astronomical Society Outstanding Publication Award (1979) (shared), Naval Research Laboratory Senior Humboldt Award (1992), Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung Jansky Lectureship (1996), National Radio Astronomy Observatory Grote Reber Gold Medal (2013), Grote Reber Foundation Diamond Achievement Award (2019) (shared with EHT team), National Science Foundation Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics (2019) (shared with EHT team), Fundamental Physics Prize Foundation Bruno Rossi Prize (2020) (shared with EHT team), American Astronomical Society Oort Professorship (2020), Leiden University Group Achievement Award (2021) (shared with EHT team), Royal Astronomical Society

References

External links Jim Moran's home page at Harvard University

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with James Michael Moran

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what James Michael Moran 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 Michael Moran 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 Michael Moran 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 Michael Moran

In research: James Michael Moran 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 Michael Moran 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 Michael Moran is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1943 births, American astronomers, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences faculty, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for James Michael Moran 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.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “James Michael Moran” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study James Michael Moran in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is James Michael Moran in simple terms?

Why does James Michael Moran 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 Michael Moran?

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 Michael Moran.