astronomy

Paul Sollenberger

Paul Sollenberger 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 Sollenberger rather than just read about it. In short: Paul Sollenberger (August 14, 1891 – May 5, 1995) was an American astronomer and first civilian director of Time Service at the United States Naval Observatory. He made important contributions to the various designs, including quartz crystal clocks, chronographs, and the photographic zenith tube that greatly increased time precision.

Key takeaways

Paul Sollenberger 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 Sollenberger to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Paul Sollenberger from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Paul Sollenberger (August 14, 1891 – May 5, 1995) was an American astronomer and first civilian director of Time Service at the United States Naval Observatory. He made important contributions to the various designs, including quartz crystal clocks, chronographs, and the photographic zenith tube that greatly increased time precision. He also has a minor planet named after him.

Early life Sollenberger was born on August 14, 1891, to John Sollenberger and Olive Hilands Sollenberger. Sollenberger went to college at Marion Normal College (Ball State College) in Marion, Indiana, receiving his Bachelor's degree in 1913. He developed his passion for astronomy after taking a twelve week astronomy course at the college. He applied to the Naval Observatory after seeing advertisements for "Naval Observatory Time."

Career In 1914, Sollenberger began work at the Naval Observatory, with H. R. Morgan. They worked on the 9-inch transit circle. In 1919, he transferred to the Division of Nautical Instruments and Time. In 1928, he became the head of the Division, which position he held until his retirement in 1953. He was the first civilian direct of the Division. Sollenberger helped contribute to the design of quartz crystal clocks, chronographs, and the photographic zenith tube, which increased our ability to keep the precision of time. Before, he began working at the Naval Observatory, the pendulum clocks were built by Riefler and Shortt and accurate only to several hundredths of a second per year, but Sollenberger wanted a greater degree of precision. The quartz crystal clocks were capable of greater precision, but Bell Laboratories were the only ones producing them at the time, so Sollenberger made his own and was able to achieve precision to one-thousandth of a second. They remained to time standard until atomic clocks were established in 1966. In 1926, Sollenberger also was part of the San Diego World Longitude Operation. In 1929, he was a member of the Naval Observatory eclipse expedition to the Philippines. In 1949, he established the Naval Observatory Time Service station with Photographic Zenith Tube (PZT) at the Coast Guard radio station in Richmond West, Florida in Miami-Dade County. The station is still in operation, but the PZT has been superseded by a radio dish used as part of the Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) network that now determines the Earth rotation parameters. He was a member of the International Astronomical Union (lAU), and head of the IAU Commission on Time.

Legacy Sollenberger has minor planet, 5367 Sollenberger, named after him.

Personal life Sollenberger retired to Miami and died on May 5, 1995, at 103 years old.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Paul Sollenberger

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Paul Sollenberger 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 Sollenberger 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 Sollenberger 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 Sollenberger

In research: Paul Sollenberger 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 Sollenberger 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 Sollenberger is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1891 births, 1995 deaths, 20th-century American astronomers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Paul Sollenberger 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 Sollenberger in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Paul Sollenberger in simple terms?

Why does Paul Sollenberger 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 Sollenberger?

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 Sollenberger.