physics

Paul Ewart

Paul Ewart is a physics 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 Paul Ewart rather than just read about it. In short: Paul Ewart is professor of physics and former head of the sub-department of atomic and laser physics within the Department of Physics, University of Oxford, and fellow and tutor in physics at Worcester College, Oxford, where he is now an emeritus fellow. Born in Belfast, Ewart studied at Queen's University Belfast obtaining BSc and PhD degrees in physics.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Paul Ewart is professor of physics and former head of the sub-department of atomic and laser physics within the Department of Physics, University of Oxford, and fellow and tutor in physics at Worcester College, Oxford, where he is now an emeritus fellow. Born in Belfast, Ewart studied at Queen's University Belfast obtaining BSc and PhD degrees in physics. After holding a research post in the Blackett Laboratory at Imperial College London he was appointed to a position at Oxford. His research concentrated on the use of laser spectroscopy to study combustion, aiming to improve the efficiency of engines. Ewart would normally have been required to retire from the University of Oxford in 2015, as part of an Employer Justified Retirement Age (EJRA) policy which required academics to retire by the September following their 67th birthday, but was granted a two-year extension to September 2017. A second application for a further three year extension was refused, and Ewart challenged the policy in a tribunal, claiming that his dismissal was unfair and amounted to age discrimination, contrary to the Equality Act 2010. In December 2019 a tribunal found in his favour, concluding that the university had not justified "what would otherwise be discrimination, and accordingly on each of the points of age discrimination alleged we find that the claimant has been discriminated against unlawfully on grounds of his age", adding that "There can hardly be a greater discriminatory effect in the employment field than being dismissed simply because you hold a particular protected characteristic". In January 2020 the university announced its intention to appeal. In October 2020 Ewart was reinstated, with the payment of back pay and additional financial compensation. The university appealed the decision but the appeal was dismissed on 27 September 2021.

Selected works Ewart, Paul (1985). "A modeless, variable bandwidth, tunable laser". Optics Communications. 55: 124–126. doi:10.1016/0030-4018(85)90314-1. Ewart, P.; O’Leary, S. V. (1986). "Detection of OH in a flame by degenerate four-wave mixing". Optics Letters. 11: 279–281. doi:10.1364/OL.11.000279. Kiefer, Johannes; Ewart, Paul (2011). "Laser diagnostics and minor species detection in combustion using resonant four-wave mixing". Progress in Energy and Combustion Science. 37: 525–564. doi:10.1016/j.pecs.2010.11.001. hdl:2164/2112. Ewart, Paul (2019). Atomic Physics. IOP Concise Physics. ISBN 978-1643274010. Ewart, Paul (2019). Optics: The Science of Light. IOP Concise Physics. ISBN 978-1643276731.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Paul Ewart

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Paul Ewart claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, 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 Paul Ewart 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 Paul Ewart 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 Paul Ewart

In research: Paul Ewart appears in physics 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 Paul Ewart 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: Paul Ewart is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Alumni of Queen's University Belfast, British physicists, Fellows of Worcester College, Oxford, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Paul Ewart 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 Paul Ewart in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Paul Ewart in simple terms?

Why does Paul Ewart matter?

Because it connects several physics 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 Paul Ewart?

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 Paul Ewart.