astronomy

Margaret Altmann

Margaret Altmann 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 Margaret Altmann rather than just read about it. In short: Margaret Altmann (1900–1984) was a German-American biologist focusing on animal husbandry and psychobiology. She was one of the first women to work in the psychobiology, ethology and animal husbandry fields, with a focus on livestock.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Margaret Altmann (1900–1984) was a German-American biologist focusing on animal husbandry and psychobiology. She was one of the first women to work in the psychobiology, ethology and animal husbandry fields, with a focus on livestock.

Early life and education Margaret Altmann was born in Berlin, German Empire. She worked in farm management. She attended the University of Bonn for rural economics. She received her PhD from Bonn in 1928. After graduation, she stayed in Germany and worked in the government farm industry, focusing on the breeding of dairy animals. In 1933, she relocated to the United States. She attended Cornell University. In 1938, Altmann received her second PhD from Cornell, with a degree in animal breeding from the psychobiology department. In the same year she became a citizen of the United States.

Career Altmann started working at the Hampton Institute, where she was associate professor, and then professor. She taught animal genetics and animal husbandry. Eventually, she started working on large wild mammals and relocated to Colorado. From 1948 until 1956 she lived in Colorado, working at a biological research center. During this time, she started studying psychobiology. She taught at Kenyon College. From 1959 until 1969 she taught at the University of Colorado. In 1969, she retired, and became professor emerita. She wrote papers about moose, elk and packs. Larry Squire worked under her while doing bison research in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Squire described Altmann as an "interesting character". While in Wyoming, she researched elk, riding horseback, and teaching others to ride, to follow packs. She was a twenty-year member of the American Society of Mammalogists and published work in the Journal of Mammalogy. She was also a member of the Genetics Society of America and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Later life and legacy In 1986, the University of Arizona held a symposium about ungulates in honor of Altmann.

Published works Altmann, Margaret. "A study of behavior in a horse-mule group." Sociometry. 14.4 (1951), pp. 351–354. Chiszar, D. and Wertheimer, M. (1988), Margaret Altmann: A rugged pioneer in rugged fields. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 24: 102–106. doi: 10.1002/1520-6696(198801)24:1<102::AID-JHBS2300240121>3.0.CO;2-O

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Margaret Altmann

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Margaret Altmann 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 Margaret Altmann 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 Margaret Altmann 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 Margaret Altmann

In research: Margaret Altmann 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 Margaret Altmann 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: Margaret Altmann is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1900 births, 1984 deaths, 20th-century American women biologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Margaret Altmann 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 Margaret Altmann in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Margaret Altmann in simple terms?

Why does Margaret Altmann 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 Margaret Altmann?

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 Margaret Altmann.