astronomy

Mollie Holman

Mollie Holman 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 Mollie Holman rather than just read about it. In short: Mollie Holman (18 June 1930 – 20 August 2010) was an Australian physiologist whose work focused on muscles and the central nervous system. She was the first woman appointed to the executive board of the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Executive in 1975.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Mollie Holman (18 June 1930 – 20 August 2010) was an Australian physiologist whose work focused on muscles and the central nervous system. She was the first woman appointed to the executive board of the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Executive in 1975.

Personal life Mollie Holman was born on 18 June 1930 in Launceston, Tasmania, to William, a physician and radiologist and Mollie (née Bain). She had three sisters. Her father, supportive of each daughter's intellectual development, supported Mollie's interest in physics.

Education Holman attended Launceston Church Grammar School. She completed a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree at the University of Melbourne in 1952 and a Master of Science (MSc) in 1955. She then moved to England where she undertook studies at the University of Oxford, completing a doctorate in pharmacology in 1957. She received a Doctor of Science (DSc) from Monash University in the 1960s.

Working life From 1953 to 1954 Holman was a Demonstrator in pharmacology at the University of Melbourne. Between 1955 and 1957 she went to University of Oxford as a research student on a University of Melbourne travelling scholarship. In the final year at Oxford she was awarded a Wellcome research grant. After returning to Australia in 1958 she joined the University of Melbourne, as a lecturer in physiology from 1958 to 1962. She moved to Monash University in 1963 as a senior lecturer in physiology. Between 1965 and 1970 she was a reader in physiology. From 1970 to 1996 she was professor. She retired in 1995 and was made Emeritus Professor the following year. Between 1975 and 1978 she was a Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) executive member.

Research Holman's research focused on the complex network of nerve cells that regulate autonomic movements (such as digestion and blood pressure), and how these interact with smooth muscle in the body. In a successful collaboration with Geoff Burnstock, Holman showed how nerves initiated smooth muscle contractions. She often worked late at night to avoid the unwanted vibrations from the rumblings of passing daytime traffic that interfered with her fine electrodes. Holman completed her DPhil degree in 1957 and returned to Australia the following year. Around the same time Burnstock was appointed to the department of zoology, allowing the collaboration to continue. Their work on smooth muscle and its nerve supply was pioneering. A series of papers was published, beginning with a note to Nature in 1960. This brought Holman to the attention of the scientific community.

Awards and honours 1965 – Edgeworth David Medal received from the Royal Society of New South Wales 1970 – Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (FAA) 1985 - ANZAAS Medal for research into properties of smooth muscles in mammals. She was awarded the medal by Sir Edmund Hilary 1998 – Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) "for service to scientific research, particularly relating to the autonomic nervous system and the control of smooth muscle, and to education and university administration". 2001 – Centenary Medal "for service to Australian society and science".

The Mollie Holman Medal Monash University offered for the first time in 1998, up to 10 medals for award to doctoral candidates, normally one from each faculty, who have fulfilled their degree requirements and presented their faculty's best thesis of the year.

Notable recipients Lisa Alexander, Faculty of Science Rachelle Buchbinder, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Science David Chesworth, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture Greer Honeywill, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture Helen Johnson (artist), Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture Sarah Krasnostein, Faculty of Law Adrian Martin, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture Jared Purton, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences Debra Wilson, New Zealand law professor David Wood (mathematician), Faculty of Information Technology

References

See also Bhathal, R. S. (1999). Profiles: Australian Women Scientists. National Library Australia. ISBN 9780642107015.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mollie Holman

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mollie Holman 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 Mollie Holman 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 Mollie Holman 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 Mollie Holman

In research: Mollie Holman 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 Mollie Holman 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: Mollie Holman is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1930 births, 2010 deaths, 20th-century Australian women scientists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mollie Holman 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 Mollie Holman in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Mollie Holman in simple terms?

Why does Mollie Holman 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 Mollie Holman?

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 Mollie Holman.