science

P. N. Shankar

P. N. Shankar 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 P. N. Shankar rather than just read about it. In short: Pattamadai Narasimhan Shankar was an Indian scientist who worked in the field of fluid dynamics. He was married to Priti Shankar.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Pattamadai Narasimhan Shankar was an Indian scientist who worked in the field of fluid dynamics. He was married to Priti Shankar.

Education He did his schooling in India and Switzerland, while obtaining his bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1964 from Imperial College London. He completed his PhD degree in engineering science from California Institute of Technology under the supervision of Frank E. Marble in 1968.

Career and research He worked at General Electric for two years before becoming an assistant professor at University of Maryland for the period 1970-72. In 1972, he moved to National Aerospace Laboratories and stayed there until his retirement in 2004.

Publications Shankar is the author of several journal articles, mostly appeared in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics and Proceedings of the Royal Society. He is the author of the book:

P. N. Shankar (2007). Slow Viscous Flows: Qualitative Features and Quantitative Analysis Using Complex Eigenfunction Expansions. Imperial College Press. ISBN 978-1860947810. P. N. Shankar. How to make a telescope?.

Honors He was the 1971 recipient of Robert T. Knapp Award given by ASME. He was elected as fellow in Indian Academy of Sciences in 1992.

References

External links P. N. Shankar at the Mathematics Genealogy Project

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with P. N. Shankar

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what P. N. Shankar 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 P. N. Shankar 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 P. N. Shankar 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 P. N. Shankar

In research: P. N. Shankar 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 P. N. Shankar 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: P. N. Shankar is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1944 births, 2019 deaths, California Institute of Technology alumni, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for P. N. Shankar 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 P. N. Shankar in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is P. N. Shankar in simple terms?

Pattamadai Narasimhan Shankar was an Indian scientist who worked in the field of fluid dynamics. He was married to Priti Shankar.

Why does P. N. Shankar 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 P. N. Shankar?

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 P. N. Shankar.