mathematics

Patrick Joseph Nolan

Patrick Joseph Nolan is a mathematics 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 Patrick Joseph Nolan rather than just read about it. In short: Patrick Joseph Nolan (11 August 1894 – 28 December 1984) was an Irish physicist. Like his older brother, physicist John James Nolan, he specialised in atmospheric physics.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Patrick Joseph Nolan (11 August 1894 – 28 December 1984) was an Irish physicist. Like his older brother, physicist John James Nolan, he specialised in atmospheric physics. In 1971, he was awarded the Boyle Medal by the Royal Dublin Society. He was born in Omagh, County Tyrone, and educated at University College Dublin. He earned a BSc in 1914, coming first in his class, and an MSc followed in 1915. A National University of Ireland travelling studentship in experimental physics (awarded in 1917) facilitated his spending some time doing research at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge–at that time led by Ernest Rutherford. In 1922, he married Una Hurley from near Bantry, County Cork, a younger sister of his brother John's wife. The couple had no children. He was an uncle of abstract painter Evin Nolan. From 1921 to 1928 he held the post of Lecturer on Experimental Physics at St Patrick's College in Maynooth. He spent the rest of his career at UCD, having been awarded his PhD there in 1922. In the 1930s and 1940s, he worked alongside his brother John, and numerous post graduate students, studying ionization, and atmospheric electrical parameters. He was appointed Professor of Geophysics in 1954, and retired in 1964. His publications included papers on the charge equilibrium of nuclei as it relates to the Boltzmann law, the combination of ions and nuclei, and the determination of the recombination coefficient of small ions. Patrick J. Nolan is best remembered for the 1940s development of the Photoelectric Nucleus Counter with L. W. Pollak. This counter was long the standard instrument for the measurement of cloud condensation nuclei. Nolan Served on the Governing Board of the School of Cosmic Physics at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies from 1947-1981.

References

Sources O'Connor, Thomas C. (2001). The Evolution of Condensation Nucleus Counters, Department of Physics, National University of Ireland, Galway The Royal Dublin Society: Patrick J. Nolan McCartney, Mark and Whitaker, Andrew (2003). Physicists of Ireland: Passion and Precision Bristol and Philadelphia : Institute of Physics, ISBN 0750308664

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Patrick Joseph Nolan

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Patrick Joseph Nolan claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In mathematics, 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 Patrick Joseph Nolan 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 Patrick Joseph Nolan 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 Patrick Joseph Nolan

In research: Patrick Joseph Nolan appears in mathematics 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 Patrick Joseph Nolan 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: Patrick Joseph Nolan is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1894 births, 1984 deaths, 20th-century Irish mathematicians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Patrick Joseph Nolan 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 Patrick Joseph Nolan in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Patrick Joseph Nolan in simple terms?

Patrick Joseph Nolan (11 August 1894 – 28 December 1984) was an Irish physicist. Like his older brother, physicist John James Nolan, he specialised in atmospheric physics.

Why does Patrick Joseph Nolan matter?

Because it connects several mathematics 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 Patrick Joseph Nolan?

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 Patrick Joseph Nolan.