astronomy

John Knight Fotheringham

John Knight Fotheringham 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 Knight Fotheringham rather than just read about it. In short: John Knight Fotheringham (14 August 1874 – 12 December 1936) was a British historian who was an expert on ancient astronomy and chronology. He established the chronology of the Babylonian dynasties.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

John Knight Fotheringham (14 August 1874 – 12 December 1936) was a British historian who was an expert on ancient astronomy and chronology. He established the chronology of the Babylonian dynasties. J.K. Fotheringham was educated at the City of London School and Merton College, Oxford, where he held an exhibition and received first class degrees in Literae Humaniores (1896) and modern history (1897). During 1898–1902, he held a senior demyship at Magdalen College, Oxford, and started to study ancient chronology. In 1904, he was appointed a lecturer in classical literature at King's College London and taught there until 1915. Fotheringham was a Fellow at Magdalen College (1909–16). He was a Reader in ancient history at the University of London (1912–20). He was later Reader in ancient astronomy and chronology at the University of Oxford (1925–36). J.K. Fotheringham edited Saint Jerome's version of Eusebius' Chronicle in 1923. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1933. He was also a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Contributions to Learning Fotheringham's most original work displayed his unusual scholarly skills at the intersection of ancient history, astronomy, and chronology. Among his first published works in 1903 were 'The formation of the Julian calendar with reference to the astronomical year' and 'The date of the Crucifixion'. He returned to this later topic several times. The two most likely dates he determined, April 7, 30 CE and April 3, 33 CE have stood the test of time and are generally accepted. A particular focus of his studies involved the use of astronomy to accurately determine ancient dates. He was, for example, one of the first to use ancient eclipse data to accurately determine the secular acceleration of the sun and moon.

Selected Publications Fotheringham published a number of papers and books, including the following:

The Bodleian Manuscript of Jerome's Version of the Chronicle of Eusebius, editor (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1905) The History of England, from Addington's Administration to the Close of William IV's Reign 1801–1837, Volume XI, with George Charles Brodrick (Longmans, Green, 1906) Marco Sanudo, conqueror of the Archipelago, with L.R.F. Williams (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1915) Cleostratus (London: Clay, 1920) Historical eclipses (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1921) The calendar (London: H.M. Stationery Office, 1929) Ancient astronomy and chronology (The Oxford Magazine, 1930) Astronomical evidence for the date of the crucifixion

References

External links Works by John Knight Fotheringham at Project Gutenberg Works by or about John Knight Fotheringham at the Internet Archive Obituaries of John Knight Fotheringham (1874–1936)

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with John Knight Fotheringham

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what John Knight Fotheringham 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 Knight Fotheringham 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 Knight Fotheringham 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 Knight Fotheringham

In research: John Knight Fotheringham 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 Knight Fotheringham 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 Knight Fotheringham is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1874 births, 1936 deaths, Academics of the University of London, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for John Knight Fotheringham 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 John Knight Fotheringham in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is John Knight Fotheringham in simple terms?

Why does John Knight Fotheringham 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 Knight Fotheringham?

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 Knight Fotheringham.