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astronomy

Percival Hall

Percival Hall 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 Percival Hall rather than just read about it. In short: Percival Hall (September 16, 1872 – November 7, 1953) was the second president of Gallaudet University (then Gallaudet College) from 1910 until 1945. He was a strong advocate of the use of sign language in the education of the deaf, and also an advocate for deaf rights to vote, work, participate in sports, marry, and drive automobiles.

Percival Hall — main illustration
Percival Hall — illustration

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Percival Hall (September 16, 1872 – November 7, 1953) was the second president of Gallaudet University (then Gallaudet College) from 1910 until 1945. He was a strong advocate of the use of sign language in the education of the deaf, and also an advocate for deaf rights to vote, work, participate in sports, marry, and drive automobiles.

Early life and education

The son of astronomer Asaph Hall, III (1829–1907) and Angeline Stickney Hall (1830–1892), he was born in Georgetown, Washington, DC, the youngest of four brothers. His eldest brother was Asaph Hall, Jr. Percival Hall took a degree in mathematics at Harvard University in 1892. While still a student, he worked as an architectural surveyor for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O), making drawings of existing structures with plans for improving bridges, as well as plans for proposed structures in the expansion of the railroad. The work was hard, as much of the time was spent in wild areas that required him to camp; hunting and cooking his own food. He observed that he saw few older people in this employment and that the work took a heavy toll on his colleagues. A friend and roommate from Harvard, Allen Bradshaw Fay, whose father, Edward Allen Fay, was the Vice President of Gallaudet College, suggested that he teach the deaf. Initially his family tried to dissuade him, as they felt that, with his adventurous spirit, he would soon be bored with life as a teacher. But, Hall felt that he could make a contribution to the developing field of deaf education.

Gallaudet Hall entered Gallaudet's Normal School, graduating with an MA in deaf education in 1893. Following his graduation, he taught at the New York School for the Deaf for two years before teaching mathematics and Latin at Gallaudet. He became president after the retirement of President Edward Miner Gallaudet in 1910. In 1935, President Hall was given an Honorary Doctorate (L.H.D.) by the college. He felt that, given the opportunity of higher education, there were many fields in which deaf people could excel. He published many articles on the education of the deaf. He retired from the Gallaudet presidency in 1945.

Family life Hall married Carolyn L. Clarke in June 1895, but she later died of illness in January 1896. In June 1900, he married Ethel Zoe Taylor, who had been a deaf student at Gallaudet, shortly after she earned her BA. They had three children, Percival Hall, Jr. (1901 – 1968), professor of mathematics and astronomy at Gallaudet; Marion Hall Fisher, a writer (1905 – deceased, April 4, 1983); and Jonathan Hall (1912 – 2008), professor of natural science at Gallaudet. Jonathan was born in "House One," on campus, on February 6, 1912.

References

Illustrations

Percival Hall illustration
Percival Hall: Hall's former home in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Note his mother Angeline on front steps, and two Black workers. The house later served as the parsonage and fellowship hall of Alexander Memorial Baptist Church.
Hall's former home in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Note his mother Angeline on front steps, and two Black workers. The house later served as the parsonage and fellowship hall of Alexander Memorial Baptist Church.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Percival Hall

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Percival Hall 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 Percival Hall 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 Percival Hall 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 Percival Hall

In research
Percival Hall 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 Percival Hall 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
Percival Hall is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1872 births, 1953 deaths, Academics from Washington, D.C., so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for Percival Hall 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 Percival Hall in 20 minutes

  1. Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
  2. Close the page and write down what Percival Hall means in your own words.
  3. Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
  4. Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
  5. Explain Percival Hall out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Percival Hall in simple terms?

Percival Hall (September 16, 1872 – November 7, 1953) was the second president of Gallaudet University (then Gallaudet College) from 1910 until 1945. He was a strong advocate of the use of sign language in the education of the deaf, and also an advocate for deaf rights to vote, work, participate in…

Why does Percival Hall 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 Percival Hall?

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 Percival Hall.

Tags

  • 1872 births
  • 1953 deaths
  • Academics from Washington, D.C.
  • American mathematics educators
  • Gallaudet University alumni
  • Harvard University alumni
  • Presidents of Gallaudet University

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