astronomy

Jan Anderson (scientist)

Jan Anderson (scientist) 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 Jan Anderson (scientist) rather than just read about it. In short: Joan Mary "Jan" Anderson FAA FRS (13 May 1932 – 28 August 2015) was a New Zealand scientist who worked in Canberra, Australia, distinguished by her investigation of photosynthesis. Life Joan Mary Anderson was born in 1932 in Queenstown, New Zealand.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Joan Mary "Jan" Anderson FAA FRS (13 May 1932 – 28 August 2015) was a New Zealand scientist who worked in Canberra, Australia, distinguished by her investigation of photosynthesis.

Life Joan Mary Anderson was born in 1932 in Queenstown, New Zealand. Her father Dr Bill Anderson was a country doctor. Her mother died, after a long illness, when Anderson was eight. After high school, Anderson decided to study organic chemistry at the University of Otago. At the time, degrees were issued by the University of New Zealand, and she obtained a BSc and MSc with first class honours. She obtained a scholarship, the King George V Memorial Fellowship for New Zealand, that allowed her to undertake postgraduate studies in the United States for one year. When she arrived at the University of California, Berkeley, she found that her New Zealand postgraduate degree was not recognised, which denied her access to the library, research facilities, and health insurance. To overcome this problem, she enrolled for a PhD, which she studied towards at the UC Berkeley College of Chemistry (1956–59) under the supervision of Melvin Calvin; Calvin received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1961. She then taught at Wellington Girls' High School under a bond, but broke this arrangement to take up a job offer with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) made to her four years earlier by John Falk of CSIRO Plant Industry. She was the first to show that the photosynthetic mechanism comprises two fundamental components: photosystem I and photosystem II. Anderson was an adjunct professor at the Australian National University. Anderson died on 28 August 2015. Her funeral was held at St John the Baptist Church, Reid, Canberra.

Awards and honors She received many honors and awards for her work, including the Lemberg Medal in 1983, election as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 1987, and as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1996. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from Umeå University in 1998. She was awarded the Centenary Medal in 2001. In 2017, she was selected as one of the Royal Society of New Zealand's "150 women in 150 words".

References

External links Resources from the Australian National Library

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Jan Anderson (scientist)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Jan Anderson (scientist) 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 Jan Anderson (scientist) 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 Jan Anderson (scientist) 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 Jan Anderson (scientist)

In research: Jan Anderson (scientist) 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 Jan Anderson (scientist) 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: Jan Anderson (scientist) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1932 births, 2015 deaths, 20th-century British women scientists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Jan Anderson (scientist) 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 Jan Anderson (scientist) in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Jan Anderson (scientist) in simple terms?

Joan Mary "Jan" Anderson FAA FRS (13 May 1932 – 28 August 2015) was a New Zealand scientist who worked in Canberra, Australia, distinguished by her investigation of photosynthesis. Life Joan Mary Anderson was born in 1932 in Queenstown, New Zealand.

Why does Jan Anderson (scientist) 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 Jan Anderson (scientist)?

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 Jan Anderson (scientist).