astronomy

Nick Scoville

Nick Scoville 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 Nick Scoville rather than just read about it. In short: Nicholas Zabriskie "Nick" Scoville is the Francis L. Moseley Professor of Astronomy at Caltech.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Nicholas Zabriskie "Nick" Scoville is the Francis L. Moseley Professor of Astronomy at Caltech.

Education Scoville earned his B.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University.

Research Scoville's research interests include interstellar molecular clouds and star formation activity within these clouds, interacting ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) and active galactic nuclei. He led the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS). The COSMOS field is among the best-studied fields in extragalactic astronomy and one of the largest galaxy surveys executed by the Hubble Space Telescope. Scoville's major research investigations include: first mapping of CO emission in the Galactic Plane and discovery of the 5 kpc molecular gas ring (with Phil Solomon); first theoretical analysis of line photon trapping in the molecular emission lines (with Solomon); first recognition that molecular gas clouds were self-gravitating (rather than being galactic spiral arms); theory of mass-loss winds from red giant stars and their molecular emission lines (with Peter Godreich); the UMass-Stonybrook galactic CO survey (with Dave Sanders, Phil Solomon and Dan Clemens), the UMass extragalactic CO survey (with Judy Young and students); High Resolution IR spectroscopy (with Don Hall, Susan Kleinman and Steve Ridgway); observations and theoretical modelling of ULIRGs and the evolution of starburst galaxies to quasars (with Dave Sanders, Colin Norman and others); imaging of local ULIRGs and the Galactic Center with the Hubble Space Telescope NICMOS camera (with Roger Thompson, Aaron Evans and Susan Stolovy); founder and leader of the COSMOS collaboration; and the evolution of interstellar gas and dust in galaxies from z = 0.1 to 5 (with the COSMOS collaboration). Scoville's main hobby outside astronomy is steel sculptural design and construction and welding. He also works on the Hubble Heritage Project, and the Cosmic Evolution Survey a multi-wavelength deep-field study of galaxies in the early universe. While at the University of Massachusetts, Scoville was the associate director of Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory. At Caltech, he was the director of Owens Valley Radio Observatory from 1986 through 1996. Scoville developed the MIR software package for calibrating data from the OVRO Millimeter Array, which was later used by other astronomical radio interferometers. The main belt asteroid 25746 Nickscoville is named after Scoville. He was elected as a member of the National Academy in 2022. In 2021, Scoville was awarded the Henry Norris Russell Lectureship by the American Astronomical Society "for contributions in understanding molecular gas and star formation and for his work in inspiring generations of early-career astronomers".

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Nick Scoville

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Nick Scoville 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 Nick Scoville 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 Nick Scoville 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 Nick Scoville

In research: Nick Scoville 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 Nick Scoville 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: Nick Scoville is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics American astronomer stubs, American astronomers, California Institute of Technology faculty, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Nick Scoville 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 Nick Scoville in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Nick Scoville in simple terms?

Nicholas Zabriskie "Nick" Scoville is the Francis L. Moseley Professor of Astronomy at Caltech.

Why does Nick Scoville 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 Nick Scoville?

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 Nick Scoville.