physics

M. Elaine Toms

M. Elaine Toms 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 M. Elaine Toms rather than just read about it. In short: Marian Elaine Toms (May 17, 1917 – June 25, 2019) was a Korean-born American physicist at the United States Naval Research Laboratory known for her experiments on photodisintegration of metals and for her Bibliography of Photonuclear Reactions. Life and work Toms was born in Seoul, at the time part of Japanese-occupied Korea.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Marian Elaine Toms (May 17, 1917 – June 25, 2019) was a Korean-born American physicist at the United States Naval Research Laboratory known for her experiments on photodisintegration of metals and for her Bibliography of Photonuclear Reactions.

Life and work Toms was born in Seoul, at the time part of Japanese-occupied Korea. She was one of three children of J. U. Selwyn Toms, a Presbyterian minister originally from South Australia who had been stationed in Korea with his wife Ella Burt Toms beginning in 1908. The Toms family returned to the US in 1923. Toms became an undergraduate at Wilson College, a small Presbyterian school in Pennsylvania, where she graduated in 1939. During World War II, she served as a lieutenant in the WAVES. Her work with the WAVES included basic training at Smith College, and the study of radar at Harvard University, before going on active duty until 1946. In that year she moved to the United States Navy Reserve and became a researcher at the United States Naval Research Laboratory, working in the Betatron Section of the Nuclear Interactions Branch of the Nucleonics Division. While continuing as a researcher at the Naval Research Laboratory, she returned to graduate study at the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned a master's degree in 1947. Much of her work on nuclear physics remains classified, but her open publications include several works on photodisintegration. She spent 32 years in the Navy Reserve, from 1943 until her 1975 retirement from the Naval Research Laboratory as a commander. She died on June 25, 2019, in Cromwell, Connecticut.

Recognition In 1965, Toms was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society. In 2016, her home town of Cromwell, Connecticut selected her as their "vet of the year".

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with M. Elaine Toms

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what M. Elaine Toms 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 M. Elaine Toms 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 M. Elaine Toms 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 M. Elaine Toms

In research: M. Elaine Toms 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 M. Elaine Toms 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: M. Elaine Toms is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1917 births, 2019 deaths, 20th-century American physicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for M. Elaine Toms 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.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “M. Elaine Toms” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study M. Elaine Toms in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is M. Elaine Toms in simple terms?

Why does M. Elaine Toms 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 M. Elaine Toms?

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 M. Elaine Toms.