astronomy

Leo Anton Karl de Ball

Leo Anton Karl de Ball 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 Leo Anton Karl de Ball rather than just read about it. In short: Leo Anton Karl de Ball (November 23, 1853 – December 12, 1916) was a German-Austrian astronomer. He is credited by the Minor Planet Center as "K. de Ball" for his (sole) asteroid discovery, but seems to be best known as Leo de Ball.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Leo Anton Karl de Ball (November 23, 1853 – December 12, 1916) was a German-Austrian astronomer. He is credited by the Minor Planet Center as "K. de Ball" for his (sole) asteroid discovery, but seems to be best known as Leo de Ball. He was born at Lobberich in the Rhineland, in the Kingdom of Prussia. He studied in Bonn and Berlin, receiving his doctorate in 1877. He worked at observatories in Gotha and at Bothkamp, discovering the asteroid 230 Athamantis at the latter in 1882. He then worked at Ougrée Observatory in Ougrée, Belgium, where he analyzed the mass of Saturn and worked on celestial mechanics and measurements of parallax and of double stars. From 1891 until his death in 1916 he was director of the Kuffner observatory in Vienna. Among other things, he measured the parallax of a number of stars and compiled data for a star catalog.

References

External links Habison, P. (2002). "Leo de Ball and his contributions to international astronomical projects around 1900 (Leo de Ball und seine Beiträge zu internationalen Astronomieprojekten um 1900)". Acta Historica Astronomiae. 14: 169–181. Bibcode:2002AcHA...14..169H. (in German) http://kuffner-sternwarte.at/sternwarte/vks_ksw_ldball.html (in German) http://hw.oeaw.ac.at/oebl/oebl_D/DeBall_Leo-Anton-Karl_1853_1916.xml

Illustrations

Leo Anton Karl de Ball: Leo Anton Karl de Ball. — Leo Anton Karl de Ball.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Leo Anton Karl de Ball

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Leo Anton Karl de Ball 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 Leo Anton Karl de Ball 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 Leo Anton Karl de Ball 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 Leo Anton Karl de Ball

In research: Leo Anton Karl de Ball 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 Leo Anton Karl de Ball 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: Leo Anton Karl de Ball is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1853 births, 1916 deaths, 19th-century German astronomers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Leo Anton Karl de Ball 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 Leo Anton Karl de Ball in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Leo Anton Karl de Ball in simple terms?

Why does Leo Anton Karl de Ball 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 Leo Anton Karl de Ball?

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 Leo Anton Karl de Ball.