physics

John R. Philip

John R. Philip 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 John R. Philip rather than just read about it. In short: John Robert Philip AO FAA FRS (18 January 1927, Ballarat – 26 June 1999, Amsterdam) was an Australian soil physicist and hydrologist, internationally recognised for his contributions to the understanding of movement of water, energy and gases. While he never performed his own experimental work, he was recognised for his skills in mathematics that could be used to explain physical processes and solve real world probl…

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

John Robert Philip AO FAA FRS (18 January 1927, Ballarat – 26 June 1999, Amsterdam) was an Australian soil physicist and hydrologist, internationally recognised for his contributions to the understanding of movement of water, energy and gases. While he never performed his own experimental work, he was recognised for his skills in mathematics that could be used to explain physical processes and solve real world problems. His interests were not limited to Environmental mechanics and things mathematical, but included a keen interest in the arts. He was a published poet and a panellist on the Sulman Prize for Architecture. His poetry appears in anthologies edited by Judith Wright and in The Oxford Book of Australian Verse.

Education and positions He was a recipient of a Scholarship for Scotch College, Melbourne, where he matriculated at age thirteen. He studied for his Bachelor of Civil Engineering, University of Melbourne (1943–1946).

Appointed to the CSIR Irrigation Research Station, Griffith. CSIRO's Plant Industry in Deniliquin (1951). Engineer for the Queensland Water Supply Commission. CSIRO Division of Plant Industry. Foundation chief of the new Centre for Environmental Mechanics (1971–1992). Foundation director of the CSIRO Institute of Physical Sciences (1980–1983). Retired 1992.

Research The major and most recognised area of Philip's research was his work on the theory of infiltration. He derived the theory for one dimensional infiltration and developed equations which described the infiltration on both a short term and long term scale, with the revelation that when ponded infiltration in uniform soils occurs, the flow will approach the saturated hydraulic conductivity:

I = S t + A t {\displaystyle I=S{\sqrt {t}}\ +At}

where S is sorptivity and A is the steady-state infiltration rate. Other areas of research include:

Examining heat and mass transfer in soils. Philip also considered the importance of relationships between organisms and the environment. This included theories on plant canopies, with particular focus on investigation of crop stomatal or surface resistances. Philip was also responsible for the construction of the Soil plant atmosphere continuum which is used to explain the transfer of water within transpiration paths, a concept which has since been expanded upon. Philip also studied advection, the horizontal movement of atmospheric properties e.g. temperature and while his analysis and solutions were not completed, his initial work has been important for development of solutions to problems such as long-term flux assessments.

Achievements Fellow of Australian Academy of Science (1967) Fellow of the Royal Society of London (1974) Fellow of the American Geophysical Union Recipient of the Robert E. Horton Medal (1982) Member of the All-Union (Russian) Academy of Agricultural Sciences (1991) CSIRO Fellow Emeritus (1991) Associate of the US National Academy of Engineering (1995) Officer of the Order of Australia (1998) Jaeger Medal of the Australian Academy of Science (1999) Honorary Doctorate: University of Melbourne, the Agricultural University of Athens, the University of Guelph

Publications Philip, J.R. "Theory of infiltration." (1969). Advances in Hydroscience. v. 5, p. 215–296. According to Philip, this is "...a review which gives a concentrated, connected account of a program of work reported in some 30 papers over the period 1954–1968."

References

External links Bio of John Philip Environmental Mechanics from AGU Biographical Memoirs at Australian Academy of Science Bradley, F., Clothier, B., Denmead, T., de Vries, D., Ford, P., Kluitenberg, G., Knight, J., Raats, P., Smiles, D., Waechter, T., White, I. and Youngs, E. (2001) The Environmental Mechanic (a tribute to J. R. Philip). Australian Journal of Soil Research, 39(4), 649–681.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with John R. Philip

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what John R. Philip 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 John R. Philip 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 R. Philip 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 R. Philip

In research: John R. Philip 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 John R. Philip 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 R. Philip is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1927 births, 1999 deaths, 20th-century American physicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for John R. Philip 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 R. Philip in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is John R. Philip in simple terms?

Why does John R. Philip 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 John R. Philip?

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 R. Philip.