biology

O. A. Trowell

O. A. Trowell is a biology 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 O. A. Trowell rather than just read about it. In short: Dr Oswald Arthur Trowell MD FRSE (1909–1967) was a 20th-century English physiologist and radiobiologist. Also an avid amateur naturalist and ornithologist, and accomplished artist, he was affectionately known as Ossie Trowell.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Dr Oswald Arthur Trowell MD FRSE (1909–1967) was a 20th-century English physiologist and radiobiologist. Also an avid amateur naturalist and ornithologist, and accomplished artist, he was affectionately known as Ossie Trowell. In authorship he is O. A. Trowell.

Life He was born on 19 May 1909. He was educated at King Edward VI School, Birmingham from where he won an Exhibition to study natural sciences at St John's College, Cambridge. He then studied medicine at the University of Birmingham graduating with an MB ChB in 1933. He then returned to St John's College where he was elected a Fellow and appointed Director of Medical Studies. He received his doctorate (MD) in 1943 winning the Raymond Horton-Smith Prize for best thesis. In 1938 he moved to Edinburgh to lecture in physiology at the University of Edinburgh. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1944. His proposers were Ivan de Burgh Daly, Philip Eggleton, William Ogilvy Kermack and William Frederick Harvey. He resigned in 1967. In 1946 he moved to the University of Bristol as Reader in Physiology and in 1948 joined the staff of the Medical Research Council at Harwell in Berkshire. Here he largely studied the effects of radiation on the human body. He died on 17 November 1967

Family He was married with two sons, one of whom was also a doctor, the other worked in banking and investment management.

Publications Choline and Liver Respiration (1935) Watery Vacuolation of the Liver (1946) The Sensitivity of Lymphocytes to Ionising Radiation (1952) Cells and Tissues in Culture (1964)

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with O. A. Trowell

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what O. A. Trowell claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, 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 O. A. Trowell 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 O. A. Trowell 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 O. A. Trowell

In research: O. A. Trowell appears in biology 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 O. A. Trowell 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: O. A. Trowell is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1909 births, 1967 deaths, Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for O. A. Trowell 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 O. A. Trowell in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is O. A. Trowell in simple terms?

Why does O. A. Trowell matter?

Because it connects several biology 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 O. A. Trowell?

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 O. A. Trowell.