physics

Keith Runcorn

Keith Runcorn 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 Keith Runcorn rather than just read about it. In short: (Stanley) Keith Runcorn (19 November 1922 – 5 December 1995) was a British physicist whose paleomagnetic reconstruction of the relative motions of Europe and America revived the theory of continental drift and was a major contribution to plate tectonics. Education and early life Runcorn was born in Southport, Lancashire, and educated at King George V Grammar School and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, whence h…

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

(Stanley) Keith Runcorn (19 November 1922 – 5 December 1995) was a British physicist whose paleomagnetic reconstruction of the relative motions of Europe and America revived the theory of continental drift and was a major contribution to plate tectonics.

Education and early life Runcorn was born in Southport, Lancashire, and educated at King George V Grammar School and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, whence he graduated in engineering within two years in 1942. After a period in radar research during the World War II, he joined the Physics Department at the University of Manchester where he did research on aspects of the Earth's magnetic field, taking his PhD for research supervised by Patrick Blackett in 1949.

Career and research Runcorn's PhD led to his interest in palaeomagnetism, the study of the magnetism of rocks, which he pursued first at the Geophysics Department at the University of Cambridge and later at Newcastle University, where he was appointed to the chair of Physics in 1956. At Newcastle, Runcorn developed a strong research group in geophysics, and made substantial contributions to various fields, including convection in the Earth and Moon, the shape and magnetic fields of the Moon and planets, magnetohydrodynamics of the Earth's core, changes in the length of the day, polar wandering, continental drift and plate tectonics. After his retirement in 1988 he continued to be active in various lines of research until his untimely death in San Diego in 1995.

Awards and honours Runcorn received many honours, including Fellowship of the Royal Society in 1965, the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) and the Fleming medal of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). He was also a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. In 1970 he was awarded the Vetlesen Prize, widely considered the highest honor in geology. In 1981, Runcorn became a founding member of the World Cultural Council. He served as the Sydney Chapman Endowed Chair in Physical Sciences at the University of Alaska from 1989 to 1995. In 2007 the RAS named an award – for the year's best PhD thesis in geophysics – the Keith Runcorn Prize in his honour.

Refereed journal publications —; Chapman, S (1 October 1948). "The Radial Variation of the Earth's Magnetic Field". Proceedings of the Physical Society. 61 (4): 373–382. Bibcode:1948PPS....61..373R. doi:10.1088/0959-5309/61/4/310. — (10 January 1948). "Variation of Geomagnetic Intensity with Depth". Nature. 161 (4080): 52. Bibcode:1948Natur.161...52R. doi:10.1038/161052b0. S2CID 4101337. —; Benson, A. C.; Moore, A. F. (27 November 1951). "Measurements of the Variation with Depth of the Main Geomagnetic Field". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. 244 (878): 113–151. Bibcode:1951RSPTA.244..113R. doi:10.1098/rsta.1951.0017. S2CID 122914565. — (April 1955). "Rock magnetism—Geophysical aspects". Advances in Physics. 4 (14): 244–291. Bibcode:1955AdPhy...4..244R. doi:10.1080/00018735500101214. Collinson, D. W.; Creer, K. M.; Irving, E.; Runcorn, S. K. (29 August 1957). "The Measurement of the Permanent Magnetization of Rocks". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. 250 (974): 73–82. Bibcode:1957RSPTA.250...73C. doi:10.1098/rsta.1957.0012. S2CID 123560074. Irving, E.; Runcorn, S. K. (29 August 1957). "Analysis of the Palaeomagnetism of the Torridonian Sandstone Series of North-West Scotland. I". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. 250 (974): 83–99. Bibcode:1957RSPTA.250...83I. doi:10.1098/rsta.1957.0013. S2CID 123618344. Creer, K. M.; E. Irving; A. E. M. Nairn; S. K. Runcorn (1958). "Palaeomagnetic results from different continents and their relation to the problem of continental drift". Annales de Géophysique. 14: 492–501. Bibcode:1958AnG....14..492C. Collinson, D. W.; S. K. Runcorn (1960). "Polar wandering and continental drift - evidence from paleomagnetic observations in the United States". Geological Society of America Bulletin. 71 (7): 915–958. Bibcode:1960GSAB...71..915C. doi:10.1130/0016-7606(1960)71[915:PWACDE]2.0.CO;2. Opdyke, N. D.; Runcorn, S. K. (1960). "Wind direction in the western United States in the late Paleozoic". Geological Society of America Bulletin. 71 (7): 959. Bibcode:1960GSAB...71..959O. doi:10.1130/0016-7606(1960)71[959:WDITWU]2.0.CO;2. — (15 October 1964). "Satellite gravity measurements and a laminar viscous flow model of the Earth's mantle". Journal of Geophysical Research. 69 (20): 4389–4394. Bibcode:1964JGR....69.4389R. doi:10.1029/JZ069i020p04389. — (28 November 1964). "Changes in the Earth's Moment of Inertia". Nature. 204 (4961): 823–825. Bibcode:1964Natur.204..823R. doi:10.1038/204823a0. S2CID 4247143. — (26 January 2010). "Flow in the mantle inferred from the Low Degree harmonics of the geopotential". Geophysical Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society. 14 (1–4): 375–384. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.1967.tb06253.x. — (7 February 1967). "Convection in the Moon and the existence of a lunar core". Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. 296 (1446): 270–284. Bibcode:1967RSPSA.296..270R. doi:10.1098/rspa.1967.0021. S2CID 120231002. — (27 February 1975). "An ancient lunar magnetic dipole field". Nature. 253 (5494): 701–703. Bibcode:1975Natur.253..701R. doi:10.1038/253701a0. S2CID 4249864. — (August 1975). "On the interpretation of lunar magnetism". Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors. 10 (4): 327–335. Bibcode:1975PEPI...10..327R. doi:10.1016/0031-9201(75)90059-X. —; Lambeck, K.; Winch, D. E. (20 August 1982). "The role of the core in irregular fluctuations of the Earth's rotation and the excitation of the Chandler wobble". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. 306 (1492): 261–270. Bibcode:1982RSPTA.306..261R. doi:10.1098/rsta.1982.0086. S2CID 119519578.

Popularizations — (September 1955). "The Earth's Magnetism". Scientific American. 193 (3): 152–162. Bibcode:1955SciAm.193c.152R. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0955-152. — (October 1966). "Corals as paleontological clocks". Scientific American. 215 (4): 26–33. Bibcode:1966SciAm.215d..26R. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican1066-26. — (December 1987). "The Moon's ancient magnetism". Scientific American. 257 (6): 60–68. Bibcode:1987SciAm.257f..60R. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican1287-60.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Keith Runcorn

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Keith Runcorn 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 Keith Runcorn 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 Keith Runcorn 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 Keith Runcorn

In research: Keith Runcorn 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 Keith Runcorn 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: Keith Runcorn is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1922 births, 1995 deaths, 20th-century British geologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Keith Runcorn 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 Keith Runcorn in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Keith Runcorn in simple terms?

Why does Keith Runcorn 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 Keith Runcorn?

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 Keith Runcorn.