astronomy

Oliver Payne Pearson

Oliver Payne Pearson 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 Oliver Payne Pearson rather than just read about it. In short: Oliver Payne Pearson (October 21, 1915, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – March 4, 2003, in Walnut Creek, California), or "Paynie" to many that knew him, was an American zoologist and ecologist. Over a very active 50-year career, he served as professor of zoology at UC Berkeley and curator of mammals at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Oliver Payne Pearson (October 21, 1915, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – March 4, 2003, in Walnut Creek, California), or "Paynie" to many that knew him, was an American zoologist and ecologist. Over a very active 50-year career, he served as professor of zoology at UC Berkeley and curator of mammals at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. Pearson is best known for his work on the role of predation on vole demography and population cycles, and for his piercing contributions to the biology of South American mammals, but his earlier studies on reproductive and physiological ecology are highly regarded as well.

Background Pearson graduated from Swarthmore College in 1937. He attended Harvard University for both his M.S. (1939) and Ph.D. (1947), and was then hired by UC Berkeley as an instructor in zoology (1947–48). He was an assistant professor of zoology (Department of Zoology) and assistant curator of mammals (Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, MVZ) from 1949 to 1955, gaining tenure and advancing to associate professor of zoology and associate curator of mammals in the MVZ in 1955. In 1957 he resigned his tenured position, maintaining status at UC Berkeley as a lecturer in zoology and as a research associate at the museum. This allowed him to focus his attentions on his studies of voles and predation, and to spend a year as a visiting professor of ecology at the University of Buenos Aires (1964–65). When Alden Miller, director of the MVZ, died in 1965, Pearson returned to the tenure series, this time as full professor of zoology (which he retained until his real and very active retirement in 1971), and as acting director of the MVZ (1966–67) and then director (1967–71).

South America In 1937 he traveled to Panama, then to Peru (1938, 1939–40, 1946, 1952, 1955, 1967, 1972), Colombia (1950) and Argentina (1955, 1964–65, and yearly from 1978 to 1999). He was honorary member of the American Society of Mammalogists (ASM), Cooper Ornithological Society (COS), Sociedad Argentina para el Estudio de los Mamíferos (SAREM) and the Comité Argentino de Conservación de la Naturaleza. He was an elected director for the ASM over 17 years between 1952 and 1990 and received the Hartley H. T. Jackson Award "for long and outstanding service to ASM" in 1984. After his death in 2003, the ASM established the Oliver Pearson Award, which offers financial support to young professional mammalogists who hold academic or curatorial positions in Latin America, to help them establish or consolidate their research programs.

Marriage In 1944 he married Anita Kelley, who was to be his companion in all his subsequent travels, with whom he had four children. When awarded an honorary doctoral degree ("Doctor Honoris Causa") from the University of La Plata, Argentina in 2000, Pearson famously stated "Yo soy un simple atrapador de ratones, y nada hubiese sido posible sin Anita" ("I am a simple mouse-trapper, and nothing would have been possible without Anita").

Recognitions Three rodent taxa were named after him: the species Ctenomys pearsoni (Lessa & Langguth, 1983) and Andalgalomys pearsoni (Myers, 1977), in addition to the genus Pearsonomys Patterson, 1992.

Selected publications Pearson, O. P. (1944). "Reproduction in the shrew (Blarina brevicauda Say)". American Journal of Anatomy. 75: 39–93. doi:10.1002/aja.1000750103. Pearson, O. P. (1947). "The rate of metabolism of some small mammals". Ecology. 28 (2): 127–145. doi:10.2307/1930947. JSTOR 1930947. Pearson, O. P. (1948). "Metabolism of Small Mammals, with Remarks on the Lower Limit of Mammalian Size". Science. 108 (2793): 44. Bibcode:1948Sci...108...44P. doi:10.1126/science.108.2793.44. PMID 17739234. Pearson, O. P.; Koford, M. R.; Pearson, A. K. (1952). "Reproduction of the lump-nosed bat (Corynorhinus rafinesquei) in California". Journal of Mammalogy. 33 (3): 273–320. doi:10.2307/1375769. JSTOR 1375769. Pearson, O. P. (1954). "Habits of the lizard Liolaemus multiformis multiformis at high altitudes in southern Peru". Copeia. 2 (2): 111–116. doi:10.2307/1440329. JSTOR 1440329. Pearson, O. P. (1963). "History of two local outbreaks of feral house mice". Ecology. 44 (3): 540–548. doi:10.2307/1932533. JSTOR 1932533. Pearson, O. P. (1966). "The prey of carnivores during one cycle of mouse abundance". Journal of Animal Ecology. 35 (1): 217–233. doi:10.2307/2698. JSTOR 2698. Pearson, O. P. (1971). "Additional measurements of the impact of carnivores on California voles (Microtus californicus)". Journal of Mammalogy. 52 (1): 41–49. doi:10.2307/1378430. JSTOR 1378430. Pearson, O. P.; Bradford, D. F. (1976). "Thermoregulation of lizards and toads at high altitudes in Peru". Copeia. 1976 (1): 155–170. doi:10.2307/1443786. JSTOR 1443786. Pearson, O. P.; Patton, J. L. (1976). "Relationships among South American phyllotine rodents based on chromosome analysis". Journal of Mammalogy. 57 (2): 339–350. doi:10.2307/1379693. JSTOR 1379693.

References

External links In memorian Memorial Obituary Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California at Berkeley Latin American Fellowship Committee, American Society of Mammalogists

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Oliver Payne Pearson

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Oliver Payne Pearson 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 Oliver Payne Pearson 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 Oliver Payne Pearson 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 Oliver Payne Pearson

In research: Oliver Payne Pearson 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 Oliver Payne Pearson 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: Oliver Payne Pearson is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1915 births, 2003 deaths, 20th-century American zoologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Oliver Payne Pearson 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 Oliver Payne Pearson in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Oliver Payne Pearson means in your own words.
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Frequently asked questions

What is Oliver Payne Pearson in simple terms?

Why does Oliver Payne Pearson 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 Oliver Payne Pearson?

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 Oliver Payne Pearson.