astronomy

Perkins Professorship of Astronomy and Mathematics

Perkins Professorship of Astronomy and Mathematics 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 Perkins Professorship of Astronomy and Mathematics rather than just read about it. In short: The Perkins Professorship of Astronomy and Mathematics is an endowed professorship established at Harvard College in 1842 by James Perkins, Jr., (1761–1822). History of the Perkins Chair James Perkins, Jr., was a Boston philanthropist, benefactor of the Boston Athenæum, and co-founder with his younger brother Thomas Handasyd Perkins of the Perkins School for the Blind.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

The Perkins Professorship of Astronomy and Mathematics is an endowed professorship established at Harvard College in 1842 by James Perkins, Jr., (1761–1822).

History of the Perkins Chair

James Perkins, Jr., was a Boston philanthropist, benefactor of the Boston Athenæum, and co-founder with his younger brother Thomas Handasyd Perkins of the Perkins School for the Blind. In his will, Perkins left $20,000 to Harvard College to establish a chair in "whatever field the President and Fellows should find the most useful". The funds were transferred to Harvard on February 20, 1842, upon the death of Perkins' wife. At that time the Harvard Corporation voted

...that a Professorship of Astronomy and Mathematics be established in the College to be denominated the Perkins Professorship of Astronomy and Mathematics.

The Perkins chair was the second chair in mathematics, the first and most famous being the Hollis Chair in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy endowed by Thomas Hollis in 1727. The Hollis Chair in Mathematics was in turn the second professorship endowed at Harvard, the first being the Hollis Chair of Divinity endowed in 1721. Hollis Chair of Divinity is in its turn the oldest endowed chair in the United States. In 1906, noting that chairs in astronomy had been endowed in 1858 (Phillips) and in 1887 (Paine), the Corporation voted

...that the title of the Perkins Professorship of Astronomy and Mathematics ... be amended so that it shall read Perkins Professorship in Mathematics.

Starting with the most recent appointment in 1991 the name of the chair informally became the Perkins Professor of Applied Mathematics when the chair was moved to Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. The formal name of the chair remains unchanged.

Holders of the Perkins Professorship of Astronomy and Mathematics The holders of the Perkins Professorship of Astronomy and Mathematics have been:

Benjamin Peirce (1842–1880) James Mills Peirce (1885–1906) William Elwood Byerly (1906–1913) William Fogg Osgood (1914–1933) George David Birkhoff (1933–1944) Joseph Leonard Walsh (1946–1966) Richard Dagobert Brauer (1966–1971) John Torrence Tate, Jr (1971–1991) David Kazhdan (1991–2003) Mark Kisin (2018–)

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Perkins Professorship of Astronomy and Mathematics

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Perkins Professorship of Astronomy and Mathematics 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 Perkins Professorship of Astronomy and Mathematics 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 Perkins Professorship of Astronomy and Mathematics 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 Perkins Professorship of Astronomy and Mathematics

In research: Perkins Professorship of Astronomy and Mathematics 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 Perkins Professorship of Astronomy and Mathematics 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: Perkins Professorship of Astronomy and Mathematics is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics American astronomers, American mathematicians, Professorships at Harvard University, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Perkins Professorship of Astronomy and Mathematics 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 Perkins Professorship of Astronomy and Mathematics in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Perkins Professorship of Astronomy and Mathematics 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.
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Frequently asked questions

What is Perkins Professorship of Astronomy and Mathematics in simple terms?

The Perkins Professorship of Astronomy and Mathematics is an endowed professorship established at Harvard College in 1842 by James Perkins, Jr., (1761–1822). History of the Perkins Chair James Perkins, Jr., was a Boston philanthropist, benefactor of the Boston Athenæum, and co-founder with his youn…

Why does Perkins Professorship of Astronomy and Mathematics 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 Perkins Professorship of Astronomy and Mathematics?

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 Perkins Professorship of Astronomy and Mathematics.