astronomy

Michael Perfit

Michael Perfit 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 Perfit rather than just read about it. In short: Michael Roger Perfit (born 1949) is an American geologist who is currently an emeritus distinguished professor at the University of Florida. Perfit graduated from St.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Michael Roger Perfit (born 1949) is an American geologist who is currently an emeritus distinguished professor at the University of Florida. Perfit graduated from St. Lawrence University in 1971, and earned a master's degree and Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1974 and 1977, respectively. After working for five years as a research fellow at the Australian National University, he joined the University of Florida faculty in 1982. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America, elected in 2008 for "his distinguished contributions in marine geology and igneous petrology." He has published over 150 professional papers and articles as well as two books – one is a children's book written and illustrated with Perfit's college roommate, Don Brown, - entitled “Older Than Dirt: A Wild but True History of Earth”. The other is an academic book that focuses mainly on the exploration of the deep ocean floor, mid-ocean ridges, deep sea volcanism and hydrothermalism, and the structure and composition of oceanic crust. The highly illustrated book is entitled “Discovering the Deep: A Photographic Atlas of the Seafloor” by Jeff Karson, Deb Kelley, Dan Fornari, Mike Perfit and Tim Shank.

Selected publications Brown, Don; Perfit, Mike (2017). Older Than Dirt: A Wild but True History of Earth. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 9780544805033. LCCN 2016018643. Karson, Jeffrey A.; Kelley, Deborah S.; Fornari, Daniel J.; Perfit, Michael R.; Shank, Timothy M. (2015). Discovering the Deep: A Photographic Atlas of the Seafloor and Ocean Crust. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-85718-5. LCCN 2014028680. In 2016, this book received a PROSE Award from the Association of American Publishers. Lowell, Robert P.; Seewald, Jeffrey S.; Metaxas, Anna; Perfit, Michael R., eds. (2013). Magma to Microbe: Modeling Hydrothermal Processes at Oceanic Spreading Centers. American Geophysical Union, Geophysical Monograph Series. Vol. 178. John Wiley & Sons.

References

External links Michael Perfit publications indexed by Google Scholar Education and Outreach: Best in show Scientist at work: I'm a geologist who's dived dozens of times to explore submarine volcanoes

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Michael Perfit

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

In research: Michael Perfit 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 Perfit 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 Perfit is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1949 births, American geologists, Columbia University alumni, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Michael Perfit 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.

Affiliate

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

How to study Michael Perfit in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Michael Perfit in simple terms?

Michael Roger Perfit (born 1949) is an American geologist who is currently an emeritus distinguished professor at the University of Florida. Perfit graduated from St.

Why does Michael Perfit 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 Perfit?

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 Perfit.