physics

Johann von Lamont

Johann von Lamont 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 Johann von Lamont rather than just read about it. In short: Johann von Lamont, FRSE (13 December 1805 – 6 August 1879), born John Lamont, was a Scottish-German astronomer and physicist. Biography Lamont was born at Corriemulzie near Inverey in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Johann von Lamont, FRSE (13 December 1805 – 6 August 1879), born John Lamont, was a Scottish-German astronomer and physicist.

Biography Lamont was born at Corriemulzie near Inverey in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The son of Robert Lamont (forester to Earl Fife) and Elizabeth Ewan, his education began at the local school in Inverey, near Braemar. In 1817 his father died and John was sent to be educated at St James' monastery (Scots Benedictine College) at Regensburg, Germany. He began to work in astronomy and joined the Bogenhausen Observatory, became its director in 1835, took his doctorate of philosophy in 1830 and became professor of astronomy in 1852 at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. At the observatory he undertook the task of creating a star catalog that had about 35,000 entries. In 1845, he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His most important work was on the magnetism of the Earth. He performed magnetic surveys in Bavaria and northern Germany, France, Spain, and Denmark. He discovered a magnetic decennial period (ten-year cycle) and the electric current in the Earth closing the electric "circuit" creating the magnetic field in 1850. This roughly matched the eleven-year sunspot cycle discovered by Heinrich Schwabe. He calculated the orbits of the moons of Uranus and Saturn, obtaining the first value for Uranus' mass. By chance, he observed Neptune in 1845 and twice in 1846, but did not recognize the object as being a new planet. He died, unmarried and without children, in Munich, Germany, on 6 August 1879. His considerable wealth was used to found scholarships in sciences. He is buried in Bogenhausen Churchyard on the edge of Munich.

Publications Lamont is the author of Handbuch des Erdmagnetismus (1849).

Honours His many honours include ForMemRS and FRSE. In 1867, he was awarded the Merit Order of the Bavarian Crown by the King of Bavaria, through which Lamont was ennobled and permitted to use the predicate "von". The statue on his tomb in Munich has him with an open hand, into which the locals put small coins. In 1934, the Deeside Field Club erected a granite memorial cairn in his memory at Inverey, Scotland. It was unveiled by Sir James Jeans. The following astronomical features were named in his honour:

Lamont (Martian crater). Lamont (lunar crater).

References

External links

Obituaries MNRAS 40 (1880) 208 Obs 3 (1879) 155

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Johann von Lamont

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Johann von Lamont 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 Johann von Lamont 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 Johann von Lamont 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 Johann von Lamont

In research: Johann von Lamont 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 Johann von Lamont 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: Johann von Lamont is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1805 births, 1879 deaths, 19th-century German astronomers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Johann von Lamont 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 Johann von Lamont in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Johann von Lamont in simple terms?

Johann von Lamont, FRSE (13 December 1805 – 6 August 1879), born John Lamont, was a Scottish-German astronomer and physicist. Biography Lamont was born at Corriemulzie near Inverey in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

Why does Johann von Lamont 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 Johann von Lamont?

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 Johann von Lamont.