astronomy

Katherine Clarke (historian)

Katherine Clarke (historian) 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 Katherine Clarke (historian) rather than just read about it. In short: Katherine Jane Clarke (born 13 October 1970) is a British ancient historian and academic, specialising in Greek historiography and geography. She is Professor in Ancient History in the Faculty of Classics, University of Oxford, and a Fellow of St Hilda's College, Oxford.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Katherine Jane Clarke (born 13 October 1970) is a British ancient historian and academic, specialising in Greek historiography and geography. She is Professor in Ancient History in the Faculty of Classics, University of Oxford, and a Fellow of St Hilda's College, Oxford.

Early life and education Clarke was born on 13 October 1970 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. She was educated at Leeds Girls' High School, an all-girls independent school. She studied literae humaniores at St John's College, Oxford, graduating with a double first Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1993. She then undertook a Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) degree in ancient history at St John's College, Oxford and Christ Church, Oxford, which she completed in 1996. Her doctoral thesis was titled "Between geography and history: Strabo's Roman world".

Academic career Clarke was a junior research fellow at Christ Church, Oxford from 1997 to 1998. In 1998, she was elected a fellow of St Hilda's College, Oxford, and appointed a tutor in ancient history. She was also a lecturer in ancient history within the Faculty of Classics, University of Oxford, from 1998. She served as vice-principal of St Hilda's College from 2013 to 2016. She was Chair of the Sub-faculty of Ancient History and Classical Archaeology within the Faculty of Classics from 2015 to 2017. In 2021, she was appointed Professor of Greek and Roman History. Clarke teaches the history of the late Roman Republic period and early Roman Empire. Her research covers the Hellenistic period and the Greeks interaction with Romans, and historians such as Strabo, Tacitus, and Polybius. Clarke's first book, Between Geography and history (1999) discussed how the presentation of geography in Polybius, Posidonius, and Strabo responded to the rise of Roman power. In the book, she argues that geography and geographic ideas were more important and complex in ancient historiography than hitherto realised. W. J. Tatum and R. Alston characterised it as "essential reading" for work on Posidonius, Strabo, and Hellenistic geography. Clarke's second book, Making Time for the Past (2008) explores how ancient Greek city-states conceived of time and the past, as a central part of their communal identities. The book was a groundbreaking work for the study of local history in ancient Greece. A third book, Shaping the Geography of Empire (2018) deals with the representation of geography and the physical world in Herodotus' Histories. Clarke was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2023.

Selected publications Between Geography and History: Hellenistic Constructions of the Roman World (Oxford University Press, 1999; paperback edition 2001) Making Time for the Past: Local History and the Polis (Oxford University Press, 2008; paperback edition 2011) Shaping the Geography of Empire: Man and Nature in Herodotus' Histories (Oxford University Press, 2018)

References

External links Faculty Page College page Archived 18 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Katherine Clarke (historian)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Katherine Clarke (historian) 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 Katherine Clarke (historian) 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 Katherine Clarke (historian) 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 Katherine Clarke (historian)

In research: Katherine Clarke (historian) 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 Katherine Clarke (historian) 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: Katherine Clarke (historian) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1970 births, 20th-century English historians, 20th-century English women writers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Katherine Clarke (historian) 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 Katherine Clarke (historian) in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Katherine Clarke (historian) in simple terms?

Why does Katherine Clarke (historian) 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 Katherine Clarke (historian)?

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 Katherine Clarke (historian).