astronomy

Michael Bolte

Michael Bolte 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 Michael Bolte rather than just read about it. In short: Michael Bolte is a Distinguished Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of California Santa Cruz. From 2005 - 2012 he was the Director of the University of California Observatories which operates Lick Observatory near San Jose California, co-manages the W.M.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Michael Bolte is a Distinguished Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of California Santa Cruz. From 2005 - 2012 he was the Director of the University of California Observatories which operates Lick Observatory near San Jose California, co-manages the W.M. Keck Observatory, and leads the University of California participation in the Thirty-Meter Telescope Project. He was a member of the Board of Directors for the CARA Board that oversees the W.M. Keck Observatory from 2005 - 2013 and has been a Director on the Board of Directors for the Thirty-Meter Telescope International Observatory since 2005.

Career

PhD, University of Washington Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics (1987) Plaskett Postdoctoral Fellow, Herzberg Institute for Astrophysics, Victoria, BC (1988-1990) Hubble Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California Santa Cruz (1990-1993) Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California Santa Cruz (1993–present) Director, University of California Observatories (2005 - 2012)

Research and notable publications General research area is the nature of the oldest stars in the Galaxy and the early chemical evolution of the Universe. He has published more than 100 papers in the referred literature with ~7000 citations at the end of 2018. With Craig Hogan of the University of Chicago he published in 1995 an early prediction of what became known as "Dark Energy" as a dominant component of the Universe. With Kathryn Johnston (Columbia) and Lars Hernquist (Harvard) published one of the early papers on identifying "fossil" structures in the Galactic halo left by tidally shredded dwarf galaxies: "Fossil Signatures of Ancient Accretion Events in the Halo" With Don Vandenberg (University of Victoria) and Peter Stetson (Herzberg Institute for Astrophysics) he published a new technique for measuring age differences between globular clusters that was insensitive to the cluster distances, reddening and overall metallicity. This has been the standard method since the paper was published in 1990. With David Lai (UC San Diego), Jennifer Johnson (Ohio State University), Sara Lucatello (Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova), Alex Hager (U Minnesota) and Sten Woosley (UC Santa Cruz) published a study of the detailed abundances of extremely metal-poor stars using the results along with theoretical yields from zero-metallicity stars to constrain models for Pop III objects.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Michael Bolte

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Michael Bolte 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 Michael Bolte 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 Michael Bolte 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 Michael Bolte

In research: Michael Bolte 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 Michael Bolte 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: Michael Bolte is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics American astronomers, Living people, University of California, Santa Cruz faculty, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Michael Bolte 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 Michael Bolte in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Michael Bolte in simple terms?

Why does Michael Bolte 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 Michael Bolte?

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 Michael Bolte.