astronomy

Kathleen D. Gordon-Gray

Kathleen D. Gordon-Gray 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 Kathleen D. Gordon-Gray rather than just read about it. In short: Kathleen Dixon Gordon-Gray (née Huntley) (born 24 January 1918, Pietermaritzburg, died 13 January 2012, Pietermaritzburg) was a South African botanist, plant collector, and educator noted for her expertise in the flora of Natal. She worked as both a lecturer and professor of botany at the University of Natal.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Kathleen Dixon Gordon-Gray (née Huntley) (born 24 January 1918, Pietermaritzburg, died 13 January 2012, Pietermaritzburg) was a South African botanist, plant collector, and educator noted for her expertise in the flora of Natal. She worked as both a lecturer and professor of botany at the University of Natal. In 1998 she was awarded the Senior (Silver) Medal of the South African Association of Botanists. Her research publications primarily covered the taxonomy of Acacia, Cassia, Cyperaceae, and Gramineae.

Education and career Gordon-Gray was born in Pietermaritzburg where she attended Pietermaritzburg Girls' High School and the Natal University College of the University of South Africa. She completed her B.Sc. (Botany & Chemistry) in 1937, followed by an M.Sc. (Botany) in 1939 and PhD (Botany) in 1959. She taught Biology at the Girls' Collegiate School from 1940 to 1945 and was appointed the Herbarium Assistant in 1946. In 1951 she was appointed Lecturer in the department of Botany at the University of Natal. She held the post of Senior lecturer from 1967 to 1976 and from 1977 until her mandatory retirement in 1978, Associate Professor. Gordon-Gray donated a sum of money to the University of Natal to establish the Kathleen Gordon-Gray Prize for the Best Third-Year Student in Plant Systematics.

She continued to work after her retirement and was involved in fieldwork until 1965, during which time she collected approximately 4000 specimens of flora. An undiagnosed injury to her femur that she had sustained in her youth severely restricted her mobility later in life but she continued to catalogue materials supplied by fellow botanists, students and friends. In 1998 she received the Senior (Silver) Medal from the South African Association of Botanists. Her major publications involved Cyperaceae, Poaceae, Acacia and Cassia but her interest and expertise included many vascular plant families and other fields such as Paleobotany. She was still engaged in a collaboration with Jane Browning and C.J. Ward to prepare a joint article for publication up to a few days before her death in January 2012. The standard author abbreviation Gordon-Gray is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.

Selected publications Gordon-Gray, K.D. (1995). Cyperaceae in Natal. Strelitzia Series. National Botanical Institute. ISBN 978-1-874907-04-6. Lacey, W.S.; van Dijk, D.E.; Gordon-Gray, K.D. (1974). "New Permian Glossopteris flora from Natal". South African Journal of Science. 70: 131–141.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Kathleen D. Gordon-Gray

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Kathleen D. Gordon-Gray 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 Kathleen D. Gordon-Gray 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 Kathleen D. Gordon-Gray 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 Kathleen D. Gordon-Gray

In research: Kathleen D. Gordon-Gray 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 Kathleen D. Gordon-Gray 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: Kathleen D. Gordon-Gray is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1918 births, 2012 deaths, 20th-century South African botanists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Kathleen D. Gordon-Gray 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 Kathleen D. Gordon-Gray in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Kathleen D. Gordon-Gray 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 Kathleen D. Gordon-Gray out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kathleen D. Gordon-Gray in simple terms?

Why does Kathleen D. Gordon-Gray 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 Kathleen D. Gordon-Gray?

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 Kathleen D. Gordon-Gray.