astronomy

Paul Louis Mercanton

Paul Louis Mercanton 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 Paul Louis Mercanton rather than just read about it. In short: Paul-Louis Mercanton (11 May 1876 – 25 February 1963) was a Swiss glaciologist, meteorologist and Arctic explorer. Biography Mercanton was born in Lausanne on 11 May 1876, the son of Eugène Mercanton, a lawyer, and Félicie Marie Lavanchy.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Paul-Louis Mercanton (11 May 1876 – 25 February 1963) was a Swiss glaciologist, meteorologist and Arctic explorer.

Biography Mercanton was born in Lausanne on 11 May 1876, the son of Eugène Mercanton, a lawyer, and Félicie Marie Lavanchy. He graduated in electrical engineering from the University of Lausanne in 1899, and obtained a doctorate in physics from the same university in 1901. Mercanton was a professor of physics and electricity, then of meteorology and geophysics, at Lausanne from 1904 to 1938. He married Alice Marguerite Colomb in 1907. Mercanton directed Vaud's meteorological service from 1911 to 1941 and the Swiss Central Meteorological Station in Zurich from 1934 to 1941, and was editor and co-author of Variations périodiques des glaciers des Alpes suisses ("Periodic Variations of the Glaciers of the Swiss Alps") between 1907 and 1954. He also regularly wrote reports on other glaciers of Europe. Mercanton was a pioneer by publishing in 1916 a work on modern observation of glaciers entitled Vermessungen am Rhonegletscher 1874-1915. From 1909 until his death, Mercanton was a member of the Glacier Commission of the Swiss Society of Natural Sciences, a commission he chaired for thirty-two years. He died in Lausanne on 25 February 1963.

Arctic expeditions Mercanton was a member of expeditions to Spitsbergen (1910), Greenland (1912–1913) and Jan Mayen (1921 and 1929). In 1921 he was part of a team which successfully climbed the Beerenberg volcano on Jan Mayen island for the first time. Mercantonfjellet, a mountainous area on Svalbard, is named after him.

See also Xavier Guillaume Mertz, contemporary Swiss polar explorer

Footnotes

Bibliography

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Paul Louis Mercanton

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Paul Louis Mercanton 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 Paul Louis Mercanton 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 Louis Mercanton 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 Louis Mercanton

In research: Paul Louis Mercanton 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 Paul Louis Mercanton 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 Louis Mercanton is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1876 births, 1963 deaths, Academic staff of the University of Lausanne, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Paul Louis Mercanton 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 Louis Mercanton in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Paul Louis Mercanton in simple terms?

Paul-Louis Mercanton (11 May 1876 – 25 February 1963) was a Swiss glaciologist, meteorologist and Arctic explorer. Biography Mercanton was born in Lausanne on 11 May 1876, the son of Eugène Mercanton, a lawyer, and Félicie Marie Lavanchy.

Why does Paul Louis Mercanton 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 Paul Louis Mercanton?

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 Louis Mercanton.