physics

Mark Swinbank

Mark Swinbank 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 Mark Swinbank rather than just read about it. In short: Anthony Mark Swinbank (born 27 April 1980) is a British astronomer. He is Professor of Physics at Durham University, where he specializes in the study of galaxy formation and evolution.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Anthony Mark Swinbank (born 27 April 1980) is a British astronomer. He is Professor of Physics at Durham University, where he specializes in the study of galaxy formation and evolution.

Early life and education Swinbank is from Sedgefield, County Durham. He earned his PhD from Durham University in 2005.

Career and research Swinbank stayed on at Durham as a research fellow within the Institute for Computational Cosmology following the completion of his PhD. From 2008 to 2011 he undertook a Norman Lockyer Research Fellowship. He was the lead author of a 2009 study that found the universe's infant galaxies 'enjoyed rapid growth spurts' and formed stars at a rate of up to 50 stars per year, which was higher than previously assumed. In 2013, Swinbank received the Fowler Award from the Royal Astronomical Society. That year he was also awarded the Philip Leverhulme Prize for work on galaxy formation and evolution, gravitational lensing, and star formation. In 2019, Swinbank led a team at the European Southern Observatory in Chile that discovered a faraway galaxy 'forming stars at a rate of 250 Suns per year' via the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) telescope.

Selected publications Swinbank, A. M.; Smail, I.; Chapman, S. C.; et al. (2004). "The Rest-frame Optical Spectra of SCUBA Galaxies". The Astrophysical Journal. 617 (1): 64–80. arXiv:astro-ph/0412050. Bibcode:2004ApJ...617...64S. doi:10.1086/425171. Swinbank, A. M.; Smail, I.; Longmore, S.; et al. (2010). "Intense star formation within resolved compact regions in a galaxy at z = 2.3". Nature. 464 (7289): 733–736. arXiv:1003.3674. Bibcode:2010Natur.464..733S. doi:10.1038/nature08880. PMID 20305639. Karim, A.; Swinbank, A. M.; Hodge, J. A.; et al. (2013). "An ALMA survey of submillimetre galaxies in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South: High resolution 870 μm source counts". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 432 (1): 2–19. arXiv:1210.0249. doi:10.1093/mnras/stt196. Swinbank, A. M.; Simpson, J. M.; Smail, I.; et al. (2015). "ALMA resolves the properties of star-forming regions in a dense gas disk at z ~ 3". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 806 (1): L17. arXiv:1505.05148. Bibcode:2015ApJ...806L..17S. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/806/1/L17.

References

External links Research.com Profile

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mark Swinbank

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mark Swinbank 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 Mark Swinbank 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 Mark Swinbank 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 Mark Swinbank

In research: Mark Swinbank 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 Mark Swinbank 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: Mark Swinbank is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1980 births, 21st-century British scientists, Alumni of St Cuthbert's Society, Durham, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mark Swinbank 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 Mark Swinbank in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Mark Swinbank in simple terms?

Anthony Mark Swinbank (born 27 April 1980) is a British astronomer. He is Professor of Physics at Durham University, where he specializes in the study of galaxy formation and evolution.

Why does Mark Swinbank 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 Mark Swinbank?

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 Mark Swinbank.