science

Norman Boyd Kinnear

Norman Boyd Kinnear is a science 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 Norman Boyd Kinnear rather than just read about it. In short: Sir Norman Boyd Kinnear (11 August 1882 – 11 August 1957) was a Scottish zoologist and ornithologist. Early life Kinnear was the younger son of wealthy Edinburgh architect Charles George Hood Kinnear and his wife, Jessie Jane, and came from the same banking family (Thomas Kinnear & Company) as Sir William Jardine (Kinnear's great-grandfather).

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Sir Norman Boyd Kinnear (11 August 1882 – 11 August 1957) was a Scottish zoologist and ornithologist.

Early life Kinnear was the younger son of wealthy Edinburgh architect Charles George Hood Kinnear and his wife, Jessie Jane, and came from the same banking family (Thomas Kinnear & Company) as Sir William Jardine (Kinnear's great-grandfather). Kinnear studied at Edinburgh Academy before moving to Trinity College, Glenalmond. He worked as an assistant in an estate in Lanarkshire before he followed his interest in natural history and volunteered at the Royal Scottish Museum with W. Eagle Clarke in 1905–1907. He joined Eagle Clarke to Fair Isle. In 1907, he went aboard a whaling ship around Greenland to collect bird specimens.

Career On a recommendation by William Eagle Clarke, he went to India to become curator of the museum of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), a position he held from 1 November 1907 to November 1919. He was also assistant editor of the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. In 1913, he married Gwendolen Beatrice Millard, daughter of Edinburgh physician William Wright Millard, a relative of Walter Samuel Millard at the BNHS. He helped the BNHS organize its survey of Indian mammals which were begun around 1911. When the First World War broke out, he attempted to join the Indian army. He served briefly in the Bombay volunteer rifles and as an intelligence officer in the defense of Bombay port between 1915 and 1919. During this time, he prepared a booklet on the animals of Mesopotamia.

Natural History Museum In 1920 he returned to Britain and became an assistant in the Department of Zoology at the Natural History Museum, becoming Keeper of Zoology in 1945. Aged 65 in August 1947, then the normal age of retirement, the trustees decided to appoint Kinnear as director of the museum. He was appointed a CB in 1948. He retired on 30 April 1950 and was knighted in June of that year.

Board memberships and other activities Kinnear was editor of the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club from 1925 to 1930 and president of the British Ornithologists' Union (which he joined when he was 20) from 1943 to 1948. He was a member of the International Council for Bird Preservation from 1935 and was involved in the drafting of the Protection of Birds Act of 1954. He served on the Councils of the National Trust and the Zoological Society. He was a fellow of the Linnean Society of London. He had a great interest in the writings of the naturalists on the voyages of James Cook. Kinnear was one of the founders of the Society for the History of Natural History. He wrote two papers in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society on the history of Indian ornithology and mammalology. He edited editions of the Popular Handbook of Indian Birds written by Hugh Whistler after the death of its author.

Death He died on his 75th birthday at his home on Burghey Road, Wimbledon.

References

External links http://www.shnh.org/ABT_founders.htm

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Norman Boyd Kinnear

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Norman Boyd Kinnear claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, 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 Norman Boyd Kinnear 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 Norman Boyd Kinnear 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 Norman Boyd Kinnear

In research: Norman Boyd Kinnear appears in science 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 Norman Boyd Kinnear 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: Norman Boyd Kinnear is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1882 births, 1957 deaths, 20th-century Scottish zoologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Norman Boyd Kinnear 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 Norman Boyd Kinnear in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Norman Boyd Kinnear in simple terms?

Sir Norman Boyd Kinnear (11 August 1882 – 11 August 1957) was a Scottish zoologist and ornithologist. Early life Kinnear was the younger son of wealthy Edinburgh architect Charles George Hood Kinnear and his wife, Jessie Jane, and came from the same banking family (Thomas Kinnear & Company) as Sir…

Why does Norman Boyd Kinnear matter?

Because it connects several science 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 Norman Boyd Kinnear?

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 Norman Boyd Kinnear.