astronomy

Mary Robertson

Mary Robertson 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 Mary Robertson rather than just read about it. In short: Mary May Robertson (born 7 June 1948) is a South African neuropsychiatrist and academic. She holds honorary positions at the University of Cape Town and University College London, where she serves as an Emeritus Professor of Neuropsychiatry and Professor at the Department of Psychiatry respectively.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Mary May Robertson (born 7 June 1948) is a South African neuropsychiatrist and academic. She holds honorary positions at the University of Cape Town and University College London, where she serves as an Emeritus Professor of Neuropsychiatry and Professor at the Department of Psychiatry respectively. She is a consultant at St George's Hospital, London.

Education Robertson studied at the University of Cape Town (UCT), and graduated with a medical degree in 1971. After being trained in the UK, and obtaining her qualification in Psychiatry, she became a fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 1991. She did a three-year doctorate degree at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London, and was made a Professor at the University College London (UCL) in 1998. During that period, she was awarded a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. She received her Doctor of Science in Medicine in 2006. She was the first woman to receive that degree from UCT.

Career

Medicine Robertson's research explored Tourette syndrome; she authored or co-authored over 200 peer-reviewed articles and four books. In 2000 she co-founded in Denmark with Anne Korsgaad the European Society for the Study of Tourette Syndrome (ESSTS), of which she was appointed Honorary President for Life in 2008. She retired early in 2002 due to poor health and was appointed Emeritus Professor of UCL.

Geography She was elected as a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society for travelling in 1976 "on a yacht, circumnavigating under square rig while undertaking solo expeditions upriver, and living with the Ibans in the Borneo jungle".

Selected publications

Books Katona, Cornelius; Robertson, Mary (1995). Psychiatry at a Glance. Oxford: Blackwell Science. ISBN 0-865-42873-5. Katona, Cornelius; Robertson, Mary (2005). Psychiatry at a Glance (3rd ed.). Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 1-405-12404-0. Katona, Cornelius L. E.; Cooper, Claudia; Robertson, Mary M. (2008). Psychiatry at a Glance (4th ed.). Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-8117-4. Katona, Cornelius L. E.; Cooper, Claudia; Robertson, Mary M. (2012). Psychiatry at a Glance (5th ed.). Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-0-470-65891-8. Katona, Cornelius L. E.; Cooper, Claudia; Robertson, Mary (2015). Psychiatry at a Glance (6th ed.). Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-119-12967-7. Robertson, Mary M.; Baron-Cohen, Simon (1998). Tourette syndrome: the facts. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-852398-7. Robertson, Mary M.; Cavanna, Andrea Eugenio (2008). Tourette Syndrome: The Facts (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-929819-8. Carroll, Amber; Robertson, Mary M. (2000). Tourette Syndrome: A Practical Guide for Teachers, Parents and Carers. London: David Fulton. ISBN 978-1-85346-656-4.> Chowdhury, Uttom; Robertson, Mary (2006). Why Do You Do That? A book about Tourette Syndrome for Children and Young People. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. ISBN 978-1-843-10395-0.

Journal articles Robertson MM, Eapen V (October 2014). "Tourette's: syndrome, disorder or spectrum? Classificatory challenges and an appraisal of the DSM criteria". Asian Journal of Psychiatry . Robertson MM (November 2008). "The prevalence and epidemiology of Gilles de la Tourette syndrome. Part 1: the epidemiological and prevalence studies". J Psychosom Res. 65 (5): 461–472. Robertson MM (February 2011). "Gilles de la Tourette syndrome: the complexities of phenotype and treatment". Br J Hosp Med (Lond). 72 (2): 100–107 Robertson MM, Eapen V, Singer HS, et al. (February 2017). "Gilles de la Tourette syndrome" (PDF). Nat Rev Dis Primers. 3 (1): 16097 Stern JS, Burza S, Robertson MM (January 2005). "Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome and its impact in the UK". Postgrad Med J. 81 (951): 12–19 Robertson MM (March 2000). "Tourette syndrome, associated conditions and the complexities of treatment". Brain. 123 Eapen V, Robertson MM (2015). "Are there distinct subtypes in Tourette syndrome? Pure-Tourette syndrome versus Tourette syndrome-plus, and simple versus complex tics". Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 11: 1431–6 Freeman RD, Fast DK, Burd L, Kerbeshian J, Robertson MM, Sandor P (July 2000). "An international perspective on Tourette syndrome: selected findings from 3,500 individuals in 22 countries". Dev Med Child Neurol. 42 (7): 436–47

References

External links UCL Profile

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mary Robertson

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mary Robertson 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 Mary Robertson 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 Mary Robertson 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 Mary Robertson

In research: Mary Robertson 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 Mary Robertson 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: Mary Robertson is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1948 births, Academics from Johannesburg, Academics of University College London, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mary Robertson 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 Mary Robertson in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Mary Robertson in simple terms?

Why does Mary Robertson 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 Mary Robertson?

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 Mary Robertson.