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astronomy

Nathaniel C. Comfort

Nathaniel C. Comfort 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 Nathaniel C. Comfort rather than just read about it. In short: Nathaniel Charles Comfort (born 1962) is an American historian specializing in the history of biology. He is an associate professor in the Institute of the History of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University.

Nathaniel C. Comfort — main illustration
Nathaniel C. Comfort — illustration

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Nathaniel Charles Comfort (born 1962) is an American historian specializing in the history of biology. He is an associate professor in the Institute of the History of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University. In 2015, he was appointed the third Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology at the Library of Congress John W. Kluge Center. He also serves on the advisory council of METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence). Comfort is best known for his 2001 biography of Barbara McClintock, The Tangled Field: Barbara McClintock's Search for the Patterns of Genetic Control. He has been praised for his reinterpretation of the response to McClintock's work on controlling elements. His 2012 book The Science of Human Perfection examines the history of human and medical genetics in America. He has written about the development of gene editing and its relationship to the United States' eugenics movement. He is working on a history of the genomic revolution in origin-of-life research.

Education Comfort received a B.A. in marine biology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1985. He received an M.S. in neurobiology and behavior from Cornell University in 1990. After working as a science writer at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, he completed his Ph.D. in history at Stony Brook University in 1997.

Career Comfort was an associate professor of history and the deputy director at the Center for History of Recent Science at George Washington University from 1997 to 2003. He joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins faculty in 2003. He is a member of the History of Science Society and the International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology. He is on the editorial board of History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences. Comfort published 30 essays and reviews in Nature 2001–2019, and was one of the few authors selected to celebrate the magazine's 150th anniversary.

Personal life Comfort married molecular biologist Carol W. Greider in 1993. They have two children. They divorced in 2011.

Publications

Comfort, Nathaniel C. (2001). The tangled field : Barbara McClintock's search for the patterns of genetic control. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674004566. Comfort, Nathaniel, ed. (2007). Opening up the intelligent design controversy. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 9780801885990. Comfort, Nathaniel (2012). The science of human perfection : how genes became the heart of American medicine. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300169911.

References

External links Comfort's faculty profile

Illustrations

Nathaniel C. Comfort illustration

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Nathaniel C. Comfort

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Nathaniel C. Comfort 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 Nathaniel C. Comfort 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 Nathaniel C. Comfort 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 Nathaniel C. Comfort

In research
Nathaniel C. Comfort 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 Nathaniel C. Comfort 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
Nathaniel C. Comfort is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1962 births, 20th-century American historians, 20th-century American male writers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for Nathaniel C. Comfort 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 Nathaniel C. Comfort in 20 minutes

  1. Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
  2. Close the page and write down what Nathaniel C. Comfort means in your own words.
  3. Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
  4. Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
  5. Explain Nathaniel C. Comfort out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Nathaniel C. Comfort in simple terms?

Nathaniel Charles Comfort (born 1962) is an American historian specializing in the history of biology. He is an associate professor in the Institute of the History of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University.

Why does Nathaniel C. Comfort 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 Nathaniel C. Comfort?

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 Nathaniel C. Comfort.

Tags

  • 1962 births
  • 20th-century American historians
  • 20th-century American male writers
  • 21st-century American historians
  • 21st-century American male writers
  • American biologist stubs
  • American male non-fiction writers
  • American science historian stubs
  • George Washington University faculty
  • Johns Hopkins University faculty
  • Living people

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