science

John T. Cockerell

John T. Cockerell is a science 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 T. Cockerell rather than just read about it. In short: John Thomas Cockerell (November 1819 – 25 September 1907) was an English collector of specimens for zoölogists, active in Australia sometime between 1865 and 1891. Cockerell was born in 1819 in England, the illegitimate son of Thomas Atkinson, a wealthy gentleman from Hampshire, and Sarah Jane Cockerell.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

John Thomas Cockerell (November 1819 – 25 September 1907) was an English collector of specimens for zoölogists, active in Australia sometime between 1865 and 1891. Cockerell was born in 1819 in England, the illegitimate son of Thomas Atkinson, a wealthy gentleman from Hampshire, and Sarah Jane Cockerell. Atkinson, who had also fathered a child out of wedlock with another woman the previous year, was sued for divorce by his wife, Elizabeth Carter Atkinson, on grounds of cruelty and adultry. Cockerell was baptised as John Thomas Atkinson in July 1820 in London, with his mother using the alias Stella. In reviewing an outlying record of Purpureicephalus spurius (red-capped parrot) at Port Essington, repeated by John Gould and other ornithologists, Birds of Australia gave this caution on Cockerell's specimens.

I have repeatedly indicated the falsity of the Cockerell localities, as had been pointed out by Sharpe previously, and consequently this record is apparently just as false. I wrote: "The wickedness of the Cockerell labelling mostly irritates in the fact that Cockerell was a splendid collector and made beautiful bird skins and secured so many rarities, so that it is always possible that some of his novelties were really novel, but owing to his action no reliance can be placed upon any of his records." — Birds of Australia, 1917. The Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive 'Key to Scientific Names' notes possible biographical details, placing him in Hong Kong 1847 in a government position, commissariat storekeeper, also a soldier of fortune, seafarer and naturalist, who settled in Queensland about 1860. He died in Lismore, New South Wales in 1907. His son, James F. Cockerell (1847–1897), followed in his father's occupation.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with John T. Cockerell

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what John T. Cockerell claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, 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 T. Cockerell 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 T. Cockerell 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 T. Cockerell

In research: John T. Cockerell appears in science 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 T. Cockerell 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 T. Cockerell is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1819 births, 1907 deaths, Australian people stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for John T. Cockerell 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.

Affiliate

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

How to study John T. Cockerell in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is John T. Cockerell in simple terms?

Why does John T. Cockerell matter?

Because it connects several science 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 T. Cockerell?

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 T. Cockerell.