astronomy

Lois Ann Pfiester

Lois Ann Pfiester 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 Lois Ann Pfiester rather than just read about it. In short: Lois Ann Pfiester (November 20, 1936 – September 28, 1992) was an American phycologist and protistologist, specializing in freshwater dinoflagellate species. Career Pfiester received her A.B. from Spalding University in 1965, her M.A. from Murray State University in 1970, and her Ph.D. in botany from Ohio State University in 1974.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Lois Ann Pfiester (November 20, 1936 – September 28, 1992) was an American phycologist and protistologist, specializing in freshwater dinoflagellate species.

Career Pfiester received her A.B. from Spalding University in 1965, her M.A. from Murray State University in 1970, and her Ph.D. in botany from Ohio State University in 1974. She joined the faculty of the botany department at the University of Oklahoma as an assistant professor in 1974, and was a full professor there at the time of her death in 1992. She directed four doctoral dissertations, and was the author or coauthor of over 75 journal articles. In 1978 she went to Prague for four weeks to work with the protistologist Jiří Popovský. The two colleagues identified more than 30 different stages to the life cycle of dinoflagellates of the genus Cystodinedria. Pfiester was an associate editor for the Journal of Phycology from 1980 to 1988. In 1990 she was the president of the Phycological Society of America. She was an internationally recognized expert on dinoflagellates, especially the genus Peridinium. She was the first to study dinoflagellate life history using light, scanning, and electron transmission microscopy. In 1988 North Carolina State University researchers JoAnn Burkholder and Edward Noga discovered a new dinoflagellate genus which they named Pfiesteria in honor of Lois Ann Pfiester.

Personal life In 1978 Pfiester married L. Dee Fink, another professor at the University of Oklahoma. In 1982 they adopted a son, Andrew Fink, and in 1983 a daughter, Laura Fink.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Lois Ann Pfiester

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Lois Ann Pfiester 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 Lois Ann Pfiester 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 Lois Ann Pfiester 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 Lois Ann Pfiester

In research: Lois Ann Pfiester 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 Lois Ann Pfiester 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: Lois Ann Pfiester is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1936 births, 1992 deaths, 20th-century American botanists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Lois Ann Pfiester 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 Lois Ann Pfiester in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Lois Ann Pfiester in simple terms?

Lois Ann Pfiester (November 20, 1936 – September 28, 1992) was an American phycologist and protistologist, specializing in freshwater dinoflagellate species. Career Pfiester received her A.B. from Spalding University in 1965, her M.A. from Murray State University in 1970, and her Ph.D. in botany fr…

Why does Lois Ann Pfiester 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 Lois Ann Pfiester?

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 Lois Ann Pfiester.