astronomy

Paul Wignall

Paul Wignall 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 Wignall rather than just read about it. In short: Paul Barry Wignall is a British palaeontologist and sedimentologist. He is best known for his research on mass extinctions in the marine realm., particularly via the interpretation of black shales.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Paul Barry Wignall is a British palaeontologist and sedimentologist. He is best known for his research on mass extinctions in the marine realm., particularly via the interpretation of black shales.

Biography Wignall obtained an undergraduate degree in geology from Worcester College at the University of Oxford in 1985. He then completed a PhD in Palaeoecology at the University of Birmingham in 1988, supervised by Anthony Hallam. He spent a year as a postdoctoral researcher with John Hudson at the University of Leicester before gaining employment in the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds in 1989, where he is currently Professor of Palaeoenvironments.

Research Wignall is well known for his research on extinction in the fossil record, particularly the Permian-Triassic mass extinction. He has published extensively on the importance of oceanic anoxia and high temperatures as kill mechanisms during this event. He also has an interest in understanding the coincidence of supercontinents, large igneous provinces and mass extinction events in Earth history.

Publications Wignall has published over 200 research articles and books, including Mass Extinctions and Their Aftermath, The Worst of Times: How Life on Earth Survived Eighty Million Years of Extinctions and Extinction: A Very Short Introduction.

Media Wignall has featured in several television programs, including BBC Horizon episode The Day the Earth Nearly Died.

Awards 1988 Cecil Barber Prize (best PhD thesis in Earth Sciences), University of Birmingham 1988 Fearnsides Prize, Yorkshire Geological Society 1991 President's Award, Geological Society of London 1996-97 Clough Memorial Award, Edinburgh Geological Society 2005 James Lee Wilson Award, Society for Sedimentary Geology 2005-2006 Kan Tong Po Visiting professor at University of Hong Kong, awarded by Royal Society 2017 Jean Baptiste Lamarck Medal, European Geosciences Union Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award

Other Wignall co-founded the Craven and Pendle Geological Society in 1990. He was President of the Leeds Geological Association in 2007–2008, and President of the Yorkshire Geological Society in 2009–2010. He was also a member of the Research Excellence Framework review panel for Earth Sciences in 2014.

See also Paul Wignall's profile at University of Leeds: https://environment.leeds.ac.uk/see/staff/1607/professor-paul-wignall

References

External links Paul Wignall at Google Scholar

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Paul Wignall

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

In research: Paul Wignall 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 Wignall 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 Wignall is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1964 births, Academics of the University of Leeds, Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Paul Wignall 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 Wignall in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Paul Wignall in simple terms?

Paul Barry Wignall is a British palaeontologist and sedimentologist. He is best known for his research on mass extinctions in the marine realm., particularly via the interpretation of black shales.

Why does Paul Wignall 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 Wignall?

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 Wignall.