astronomy

Lin Chao

Lin Chao 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 Lin Chao rather than just read about it. In short: Lin Chao is a Chinese Brazilian–American evolutionary biologist and geneticist. He earned his PhD in 1977 from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, as a student of Bruce R.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Lin Chao is a Chinese Brazilian–American evolutionary biologist and geneticist. He earned his PhD in 1977 from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, as a student of Bruce R. Levin (now at Emory University), and was a NIH postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University in the laboratory of Edward C. Cox. He spent most of his career in the Department of Biology of the University of Maryland, College Park and is currently at the Ecology, Behavior and Evolution Section of the University of California, San Diego. Chao is best known for his early work on the evolution of bacteriocins, his demonstration of Muller’s ratchet in the RNA Virus Phi-6 and his work on sex in viruses. More recently, he was instrumental in the demonstration of the evolution of parasitic genetic elements in co-infecting bacteriophages and experimental tests of Fisher's geometric model. He argued that "life is evolution by natural selection". The approach generally used in his laboratory is called microbial experimental evolution. Chao is married to Camilla Rang, a fellow scientist, T-shirt designer and Swedish children's book author.

UCSD Chancellor's Associates Faculty Excellence Award (2014)

References

External links Chao's Faculty Webpage at UCSD

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Lin Chao

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Lin Chao 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 Lin Chao 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 Lin Chao 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 Lin Chao

In research: Lin Chao 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 Lin Chao 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: Lin Chao is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics American academics of Chinese descent, American biologist stubs, American people of Brazilian descent, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Lin Chao 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 Lin Chao in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Lin Chao in simple terms?

Lin Chao is a Chinese Brazilian–American evolutionary biologist and geneticist. He earned his PhD in 1977 from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, as a student of Bruce R.

Why does Lin Chao 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 Lin Chao?

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 Lin Chao.