physics

Neville Parsons

Neville Parsons is a physics 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 Neville Parsons rather than just read about it. In short: Neville Ronsley Parsons (2 September 1926 – 30 December 2017) was an Australian physicist and Antarctic researcher. Parsons was born in Tasmania in 1926, and educated at Scotch College, Launceston and the Universities of Tasmania and Melbourne.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Neville Ronsley Parsons (2 September 1926 – 30 December 2017) was an Australian physicist and Antarctic researcher. Parsons was born in Tasmania in 1926, and educated at Scotch College, Launceston and the Universities of Tasmania and Melbourne. From 1949 Parsons spent fourteen years on the staff of the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE), spending 1950 at Macquarie Island and 1955 at Mawson Station in Antarctica as a cosmic ray and auroral physicist, establishing cosmic ray observatories in each case. He also spent the summers of 1961-62 and 1963-64 at Macquarie Island participating in joint programs with the University of California of high-altitude balloon studies of x-rays associated with auroral displays. During his time at Mawson Station in Antarctica he was a member of a five-man party led by John Béchervaise which, in early January 1956, made the first ever visits to the Masson, David and Casey ranges south west of the station. Mount Parsons, a prominent peak in the David Range bears his name. It features on one of the Australia Post series of stamps, issued in 2013, featuring Antarctic mountains. Neville Parsons was awarded the Polar Medal in 1956. He was a founding member of the ANARE Club in 1951. In 1964 he moved to the University of Calgary in Canada where he continued auroral research, becoming Professor of Physics and then Head of the Faculty of Science. He returned to Brisbane in 1978 and, in 1988, retired from the position of Director of the Brisbane College of Advanced Education, resettling back in his native Tasmania. His first wife, Jean (née McKechnie), died in 1983. Their son Targ lives in Hong Kong and daughter Alessandra (Sasha) lives in Brisbane. He was remarried in 1986 to Jennifer (née Clifford) with whom he lived in Hobart, Tasmania.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Neville Parsons

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Neville Parsons claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, 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 Neville Parsons 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 Neville Parsons 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 Neville Parsons

In research: Neville Parsons appears in physics 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 Neville Parsons 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: Neville Parsons is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1926 births, 2017 deaths, Australian explorers of Antarctica, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Neville Parsons 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 Neville Parsons in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Neville Parsons in simple terms?

Why does Neville Parsons matter?

Because it connects several physics 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 Neville Parsons?

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 Neville Parsons.