astronomy

Marijn Franx

Marijn Franx 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 Marijn Franx rather than just read about it. In short: Marijn Franx (born 24 September 1960) is a Dutch professor of astronomy at Leiden University. He was a winner of the 2010 Spinoza Prize.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Marijn Franx (born 24 September 1960) is a Dutch professor of astronomy at Leiden University. He was a winner of the 2010 Spinoza Prize. His research focuses on the formation and evolution of galaxies. He is involved with both the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes.

Career Franx was born on 20 July 1960 in Eindhoven. He studied astronomy at Leiden University and graduated cum laude in 1984. Four years later he obtained his doctorate from the same university. From 1988 to 1991 Franx was a Junior Fellow of Harvard University. In 1991 he became a Hubble Fellow. Between 1993 and 1998 he was professor of astronomy at the University of Groningen, he then moved to Leiden University where he has held the same position since. In 2008 Franx received a European Research Council Advanced grant of 1.5 million euro. He is member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences since 2009. In 2010 he was one of four winners of the Dutch Spinoza Prize and received a 2.5 million euro grant. The awarding organisation, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, praised Franx for being the lead Dutch scientist to use the Hubble Space Telescope and his research on the formation and evolution of galaxies. Franx is the only Dutch scientist to work on the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope. In March 2016 it was announced that a team of researchers, including Franx, had discovered the farthest galaxy thus far, located at 13.4 billion lightyears.

References

External links Profile at Leiden University Personal website

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Marijn Franx

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Marijn Franx 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 Marijn Franx 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 Marijn Franx 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 Marijn Franx

In research: Marijn Franx 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 Marijn Franx 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: Marijn Franx is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1960 births, 21st-century Dutch astronomers, Academic staff of Leiden University, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Marijn Franx 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 “Marijn Franx” →

Affiliate

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

How to study Marijn Franx in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Marijn Franx in simple terms?

Marijn Franx (born 24 September 1960) is a Dutch professor of astronomy at Leiden University. He was a winner of the 2010 Spinoza Prize.

Why does Marijn Franx 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 Marijn Franx?

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 Marijn Franx.