astronomy

Judith Young (astronomer)

Judith Young (astronomer) 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 Judith Young (astronomer) rather than just read about it. In short: Judith Sharn Young (née Rubin; September 15, 1952 – May 23, 2014) was an American physicist, astronomer, and educator. The American Physical Society honored Young with the first Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award for being the best young physicist in the world in 1986.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Judith Sharn Young (née Rubin; September 15, 1952 – May 23, 2014) was an American physicist, astronomer, and educator. The American Physical Society honored Young with the first Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award for being the best young physicist in the world in 1986. Astronomer Nick Scoville of Caltech writes of her research: "Her pioneering galactic structure research included some of the earliest mapping of CO emission in galaxies followed by the most extensive surveys [of] molecular gas and star formation in nearby galaxies."

Career Young received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Astronomy from Harvard University and graduated with Honors. She received her M.S. and Ph.D. in physics from the University of Minnesota. Young began a postdoctoral fellowship at UMass in 1979, collaborating with Nick Z. Scoville in a study which measured the cold gas and carbon monoxide content of galaxies. The pair made the discovery that the distribution of light and gas is proportional in galaxies. The American Astronomical Society awarded her the Annie J. Cannon Prize for this work in 1982. Young became an assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1985. In 1989, Young was promoted to associate professor with tenure, and became a Full Professor in 1993. She published more than 130 papers, mentored 5 Ph.D. candidates, and supervised 15 undergraduate research projects. Young is perhaps best known for her Sunwheel project. Young's goal for this project was to bring astronomy down to earth and to an empty lot behind the football stadium at the UMass-Amherst campus. In addition to her academic work, Young volunteered on the UMass campus and in her local community.

Personal life Young was born in Washington, D.C., the daughter of astronomer Vera Rubin and mathematical biophysicist Robert Joshua Rubin, and sister to mathematician Karl Rubin. She was married to Michael Young from 1975 to 1990 and had a daughter, Laura. Judith Young died from complications resulting from multiple myeloma, a disease she lived with for eight years.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Judith Young (astronomer)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Judith Young (astronomer) 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 Judith Young (astronomer) 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 Judith Young (astronomer) 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 Judith Young (astronomer)

In research: Judith Young (astronomer) 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 Judith Young (astronomer) 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: Judith Young (astronomer) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1952 births, 2014 deaths, 20th-century American astronomers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Judith Young (astronomer) 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 Judith Young (astronomer) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Judith Young (astronomer) 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 Judith Young (astronomer) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Judith Young (astronomer) in simple terms?

Why does Judith Young (astronomer) 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 Judith Young (astronomer)?

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 Judith Young (astronomer).