astronomy

Ole Jacob Broch

Ole Jacob Broch 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 Ole Jacob Broch rather than just read about it. In short: Ole Jacob Broch (14 January 1818 – 5 February 1889) was a Norwegian mathematician, physicist, economist and government minister. Biography Broch was born at Fredrikstad in Østfold, Norway.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Ole Jacob Broch (14 January 1818 – 5 February 1889) was a Norwegian mathematician, physicist, economist and government minister.

Biography Broch was born at Fredrikstad in Østfold, Norway. He was the son of war commissary Johan Jørgen Broch (1791–1860) and Jensine Laurentze Bentzen (1790–1877) and the brother of the orientalist and linguist, Jens Peter Broch. He attended Kristiansand Cathedral School and showed a talent for mathematics at an early age. He attended the Overlærer Møller Institute in Christiania (now Oslo) and later studied at the University of Christiania (now University of Oslo). He also traveled abroad for studies in Paris, Berlin and Königsberg, during which he developed an interest in optics and statistics. After returning to Norway, he worked with his friend and colleague Hartvig Nissen to found the school Hartvig Nissens skole in 1843, which were to have an emphasis on natural sciences and modern languages. After finishing his doctorate in 1847, he returned to a position at the university that he had resigned to work with Nissen. He also taught at the Military Academy, and in 1847 he founded the insurance company Gjensidige (under the name "Christiania almindelige, gjensidige Forsørgelsesanstalt"), which was Scandinavia's first life insurance company. Broch entered politics as a local politician in Christiania, and in the period 1862–69 he represented the city in the Storting. In 1869, he was appointed Minister of the Navy in the first cabinet of Frederik Stang. After serving as a member of the Council of State Division in Stockholm in 1871–72, he returned as Minister of the Navy briefly in 1872. He resigned over differences with his colleagues about government ministers' access to the parliament. After this his attention turned to international tasks. In 1879 he became a member, and in 1883 director of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in Sèvres, France. This work took up much of the remainder of Broch's life, but in 1884 he was recalled to Norway to attempt to form a government. The constitutional crisis which caused the fall of the so-called April Ministerium of Christian Homann Schweigaard, led to the demand for a new prime minister. Broch failed in this attempt, and returned to France, where he died a few years later. He was buried at Var Frelsers gravlund in Oslo.

Honors Broch received several honours for his scientific and political work. He was a member of the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters from 1849, and he received the Grand Cross of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1879. Internationally, he was created grand officer of the French Légion d'honneur, and Commander Grand Cross of the Swedish Order of the Polar Star. Brochøya, an island off the north coast of Nordaustlandet in Svalbard, was named after him.

Selected works Lehrbuch der Mechanik, 1854 Laerebog i Arithmetik og Algebraens Elementer, 1860 Logarithme-Tabel med 5 Decimale, 1865 Traité Élémentaire des Fonctions Elliptiques, 1867

References

Further reading Seip, Jens Arup (1971). Ole Jakob Broch og hans samtid. Copenhagen: Gyldendal. ISBN 82-05-00401-3.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Ole Jacob Broch

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Ole Jacob Broch 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 Ole Jacob Broch 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 Ole Jacob Broch 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 Ole Jacob Broch

In research: Ole Jacob Broch 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 Ole Jacob Broch 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: Ole Jacob Broch is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1818 births, 1889 deaths, 19th-century Norwegian educators, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Ole Jacob Broch 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 Ole Jacob Broch in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Ole Jacob Broch in simple terms?

Ole Jacob Broch (14 January 1818 – 5 February 1889) was a Norwegian mathematician, physicist, economist and government minister. Biography Broch was born at Fredrikstad in Østfold, Norway.

Why does Ole Jacob Broch 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 Ole Jacob Broch?

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 Ole Jacob Broch.