astronomy

John Alexander Harvie-Brown

John Alexander Harvie-Brown 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 John Alexander Harvie-Brown rather than just read about it. In short: John Alexander Harvie-Brown (27 August 1844 – 26 July 1916) was a Scottish ornithologist and naturalist. Biography Harvie-Brown was born near Larbert in central Scotland, the only son of John Harvie-Brown and his wife, Elizabeth Spottiswoode, who was the daughter of Thomas Spottiswoode of Dunipace (entitled "Thomas Spottiswoode, 6th of Dunipace").

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

John Alexander Harvie-Brown (27 August 1844 – 26 July 1916) was a Scottish ornithologist and naturalist.

Biography Harvie-Brown was born near Larbert in central Scotland, the only son of John Harvie-Brown and his wife, Elizabeth Spottiswoode, who was the daughter of Thomas Spottiswoode of Dunipace (entitled "Thomas Spottiswoode, 6th of Dunipace"). He inherited approximately 2100 acres near Dunipace. Harvie-Brown was educated at Merchiston Castle School, and then attended both the University of Edinburgh and Cambridge University.

As a wealthy landowner, he could dedicate himself to ornithology and other naturalistic studies without pursuing a profession. He made ornithological visits to Norway, Russia, Finland and Transylvania. Perhaps his most famous expedition was with Henry Seebohm to the lower reaches of the Pechora River in 1875, when the eggs of the grey plover and the little stint were discovered. For many years Harvie-Brown cruised each summer among the islands of the Scottish coast in his yacht the "Shiantelle" (built in 1887 in Fraserburgh). He, with H. W. Feilden, collected many eggs and birds' skins from the Hebrides, Orkney, the Faroes and even the island of Rockall (no eggs but birds' skins in the case of Rockall). However, in January 1897 a fire almost totally destroyed the collection. Harvie-Brown died in 1916, after a number of years of ill health. His burial was at Dunipace Old Cemetery. His publications in the scientific literature number close to 250 items. He was elected an Honorary Life Member of the American Ornithologists' Union. In 1912 the University of Aberdeen conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL.D.

Bird migration and the British Association In 1880 Alfred Newton persuaded the British Association to sponsor a committee for the study of bird migration all over the world but especially along the coasts of England and Scotland. Harvie-Brown, John Cordeaux, and W. Eagle Clarke were among the most important contributors to the committee's effort to recruit the keepers of lighthouses and lightvessels to make and record observations of bird migration. Between 1879 and 1887 the reports of the Committee on the Migration of Birds, worked out by Eagle Clarke, and presented in 1896, involved information from many lighthouses of Great Britain and Ireland, but none from the south coast of Great Britain, between Varne Lightvessel in the east and Start Point Lighthouse in the west. For this reason Harvie Brown wrote a paper, addressed to "the lighthouse keepers of the English Channel, and to the local ornithologists of the counties abutting thereone." He was especially keen on filling in the blank, that could support conclusions concerning the so-called east-to-west migration line.

Selected works Report on the migration of birds (1879–1887) (9 vols.) Harvie-Brown, John A.; Cordeaux, John (1880). "Report on the Migration of Birds in the Autumn of 1879". The Zoologist. 3rd series. 4 (41): 161–204. ——; Cordeaux, John; Kermode, Philip Moore Callow (1881). Report on the Migration of Birds in the Spring and Autumn of 1880. London: Sonnenschein & Allen. OCLC 756171980. (120 pgs.) ——; Cordeaux, John; Kermode, Philip Moore Callow; Barrington, Richard Manliffe; More, A.G. (1882). Report on the Migration of Birds in the Spring and Autumn of 1881. London: West, Newman & Co. OCLC 315336609. (99 pgs.) ——; Cordeaux, John; Barrington, Richard Manliffe; More, A.G. (1883). Report on the Migration of Birds in the Spring and Autumn. Fourth Report, 1882. London: West, Newman & Co. (106 pgs.) ——; Cordeaux, John; Barrington, Richard Manliffe; More, A.G. (1884). Report on the Migration of Birds in the Spring and Autumn of 1883. Fifth Report. London: West, Newman & Co. (129 pgs.) ——; Cordeaux, John; Barrington, Richard Manliffe; More, A.G.; Clarke, W. Eagle (1885). Report on the Migration of Birds in the Spring and Autumn of 1884. Sixth Report. London: West, Newman & Co. (186 pgs.) ——; Cordeaux, John; Barrington, Richard Manliffe; More, A.G.; Clarke, W. Eagle (1886). Report on the Migration of Birds in the Spring and Autumn of 1885. Seventh Report. Edinburgh: Printed by McFarlane & Erskine. (173 pgs.) ——; Cordeaux, John; Barrington, Richard Manliffe; More, A.G.; Clarke, W. Eagle (1887). Report on the Migration of Birds in the Spring and Autumn of 1886. Eighth Report. Edinburgh: Printed by McFarlane & Erskine. (174 pgs.) ——; Cordeaux, John; Barrington, Richard Manliffe; More, A.G.; Clarke, W. Eagle (1888). Report on the Migration of Birds in the Spring and Autumn of 1887. Ninth Report. Edinburgh: Printed by McFarlane & Erskine. (175 pgs.)

—— (1879). The capercaillie in Scotland. Edinburgh: David Douglas. —— (1881). The history of the squirrel in Great Britain. Edinburgh: M'Farlane & Erskine. A vertebrate fauna of the outer Hebrides (1888) (with M. Forster Heddle, William Anderson Smith, & Thomas Edward Buckley) A vertebrate fauna of Argyll and the inner Hebrides (1892) (with Thomas E. Buckley) A fauna of the Moray basin (1895) (with Thomas E. Buckley) —— (1897). "The Migration of Birds: a paper addressed to the lighthouse keepers of the English Channel, and to the local ornithologists of the counties abutting thereon". The Zoologist. 4. 1 (677, November): 505–506. (He is wrongly named "J.A. Harvie Brown" here) The wonderful trout (1898) On the avifauna of the outer Hebrides, 1888-1902 (1902), in the Annals of Scottish Natural History: A Quarterly Magazine ... The red-necked phalarope in Ireland, the Outer Hebrides, and Shetland as a nesting species (1903), in the Irish Naturalist Travels of a naturalist in northern Europe, Norway, 1871, Archangel, 1872, Petchora, 1875 (1905)

References

External links Harvie Brown, John Alexander (1844–1916), Landed families of Britain and Ireland: July 2014, blogspot.com

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with John Alexander Harvie-Brown

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what John Alexander Harvie-Brown 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 John Alexander Harvie-Brown 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 John Alexander Harvie-Brown 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 John Alexander Harvie-Brown

In research: John Alexander Harvie-Brown 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 John Alexander Harvie-Brown 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: John Alexander Harvie-Brown is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1844 births, 1916 deaths, Alumni of the University of Edinburgh, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for John Alexander Harvie-Brown 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 “John Alexander Harvie-Brown” →

Affiliate

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

How to study John Alexander Harvie-Brown in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what John Alexander Harvie-Brown 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 John Alexander Harvie-Brown out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is John Alexander Harvie-Brown in simple terms?

John Alexander Harvie-Brown (27 August 1844 – 26 July 1916) was a Scottish ornithologist and naturalist. Biography Harvie-Brown was born near Larbert in central Scotland, the only son of John Harvie-Brown and his wife, Elizabeth Spottiswoode, who was the daughter of Thomas Spottiswoode of Dunipace…

Why does John Alexander Harvie-Brown 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 John Alexander Harvie-Brown?

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 John Alexander Harvie-Brown.