astronomy

Michael Francis Madelin

Michael Francis Madelin 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 Francis Madelin rather than just read about it. In short: Michael Francis Madelin (1931–2007) was a British mycologist. He held research faculty positions at Imperial College, University of London, and the University of Bristol, and undertook pioneering research in conidial fungi and slime moulds, with specific reference to their physiology and ecology.

Key takeaways

Michael Francis Madelin 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 Francis Madelin to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Michael Francis Madelin from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Michael Francis Madelin (1931–2007) was a British mycologist. He held research faculty positions at Imperial College, University of London, and the University of Bristol, and undertook pioneering research in conidial fungi and slime moulds, with specific reference to their physiology and ecology.

Early life and education Madelin was raised in London and was a pupil at the Slough Grammar School and Latymer Upper School. In 1947, he took a gap year after secondary school to work at the Commonwealth Mycological Institute in Kew. His undergraduate studies was at Imperial College London, graduating with first class honours in botany at the age of 20 and won the Forbes Memorial Medal and Prize in Biology. M. F. Madelin continued his graduate studies at the same institution under the supervision of the pioneer British plant pathologist, R. K. S. Wood, and earned his PhD in mycology in 1954. Between 1955 and 1957, Michael Madelin did his national service as a flight lieutenant in the Royal Air Force.

Career He became a lecturer at the University College of the Gold Coast, then part of the University of London external system, where he researched tropical fungal parasites in insects and developed a lifelong interest in the subject. Moving back to Imperial College, he taught courses in plant pathology before accepting a mycology research-lectureship at the University of Bristol in 1962. For his groundbreaking research conducted at Imperial College, he received the Huxley Memorial Medal and Prize in 1967. He taught a popular course, Medicine and Mycology, to medical students at Cambridge. He also carried out various academic assignments at the universities of Bath, Hull and Exeter. Madelin was a visiting researcher at several institutions abroad in Chennai, India; Suva, Fiji and Madrid, Spain. He was the co-convener of the First International Fungus Spore Symposium which took place in Bristol in 1965. He was influential in other international meetings in mycology, particularly those held in Kananaskis, Alberta; Gwatt, Switzerland; Exeter, UK and Berkeley, California. He served in various capacities at the British Mycological Society as the Programme Secretary, Vice-President, and President. M. F. Madelin co-edited the Journal of General Microbiology, now named Microbiology, for six years in the early 1970s. He was the doctoral advisor of the pioneering Ghanaian plant pathologist, George C. Clerk (1931–2019). He also collaborated with the Indian botanist, C. V. Subramanian. He retired from Bristol in 1991 and relocated to Oxford. He then devoted himself to popular science, teaching fungi at the university and through broadcast journalism on television and radio.

Personal life He was married to Therese and they had five children.

Final years and death Later in life, M. F. Madelin was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia and Parkinson's disease. He died in Oxford in 2007, aged 76. His remains were buried at the Wolvercote Cemetery.

Bibliography

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Michael Francis Madelin

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Michael Francis Madelin 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 Francis Madelin 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 Francis Madelin 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 Francis Madelin

In research: Michael Francis Madelin 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 Francis Madelin 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 Francis Madelin is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1931 births, 2007 deaths, 20th-century British botanists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Michael Francis Madelin 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 Francis Madelin in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Michael Francis Madelin in simple terms?

Why does Michael Francis Madelin 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 Francis Madelin?

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 Francis Madelin.