astronomy

John L. Lumley

John L. Lumley 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 L. Lumley rather than just read about it. In short: John Leask Lumley (4 November 1930 – 30 May 2015) was an American fluid dynamicist and a professor at Cornell University. He is widely known for his research in turbulence and is the coauthor of A First Course in Turbulence along with Hendrik Tennekes.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

John Leask Lumley (4 November 1930 – 30 May 2015) was an American fluid dynamicist and a professor at Cornell University. He is widely known for his research in turbulence and is the coauthor of A First Course in Turbulence along with Hendrik Tennekes.

Academic career Lumley received his M.S.E. and Ph.D. degrees from Johns Hopkins University in 1954 and 1957 respectively. His Ph.D. thesis supervisor was Stanley Corrsin. He started his academic career at the Pennsylvania State University where he became Evan Pugh Professor of Aerospace Engineering. He was also in charge of research on turbulence and transition at the Applied Research Laboratory. In 1977 Lumley joined Cornell University where he was the Willis H. Carrier Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (Emeritus) until his death in May 2015 of brain cancer. He was an editor of the Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics from 1977 to 2002.

Honors and awards Lumley received the 1990 Fluid Dynamics Prize of American Physical Society, "For his outstanding contributions to the understanding of turbulent flow, in particular, the fundamental structure of turbulent shear flows, the effects of drag-reducing additives, and his widely recognized contributions to the statistical theory of turbulence, and for his personal and intellectual leadership in the international fluid dynamics community, including his educational films and books, and his long active devotion to the Division of Fluid Dynamics of The American Physical Society." He has also received several other awards, including:

Fluid and Plasma Dynamics Award of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 1982 Timoshenko Medal, 1993 Recipient of two honorary doctorate degrees (honoris causa) from the French University System, in Lyon and in Poitiers. Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Member of the National Academy of Engineering

Books authored Tennekes, H. and J. L. Lumley, A First Course in Turbulence, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA (1972). ISBN 978-0262200196 Holmes, P., J. L. Lumley, and G. Berkooz, Turbulence, Coherent Structures, Dynamical Systems and Symmetry, Cambridge University Press (1998). ISBN 978-0-521-63419-9 Lumley, J. L., Engines: An Introduction, Cambridge University Press, (1999). hbk ISBN 0-521-64277-9; pbk ISBN 0-521-64489-5 Lumley, J. L., Still Life with Cars: An Automotive Memoir, McFarland, (2005). ISBN 0-7864-2053-7 Lumley, J. L., Stochastic Tools in Turbulence, Dover Publications (2007). ISBN 978-0-486-46270-7 Monin, A. S., A. M. Yaglom, and J. L. Lumley, Statistical Fluid Mechanics - vol 1: Mechanics of Turbulence, The MIT Press (1971). ISBN 978-0-262-13062-2 Lumley, J. L., H. A. Panofsky, "The Structure of Atmospheric Turbulence", John Wiley & Sons, Inc, New York, NY (1964). ISBN 978-0470553657

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with John L. Lumley

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what John L. Lumley 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 L. Lumley 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 L. Lumley 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 L. Lumley

In research: John L. Lumley 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 L. Lumley 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 L. Lumley is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1930 births, 2015 deaths, American fluid dynamicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for John L. Lumley 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 L. Lumley in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is John L. Lumley in simple terms?

Why does John L. Lumley 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 L. Lumley?

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 L. Lumley.