astronomy

Peter John Wyllie

Peter John Wyllie 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 Peter John Wyllie rather than just read about it. In short: Peter John Wyllie (born 8 February 1930, in London, England) is a British petrologist and academic. He was Professor of Geology at the California Institute of Technology from 1983 until his retirement in 1999.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Peter John Wyllie (born 8 February 1930, in London, England) is a British petrologist and academic. He was Professor of Geology at the California Institute of Technology from 1983 until his retirement in 1999. Prior to this, he held positions at the University of St Andrews (1955–56), Pennsylvania State University (1958–59 and 1961–66), the University of Leeds (1959–61), and the University of Chicago (1965–83). He is well known for his many contributions to the understanding of magmatism, particularly through his work on the experimental petrology of magmas and volatiles. In the early 1970s, Wyllie wrote two widely used textbooks; The Dynamic Earth (1971) and The Way the Earth Works (1976) which integrated the new understanding of magmatism and plate tectonics. He is also famous for his contributions to the coverage of earth sciences in the Encyclopædia Britannica, particularly his outline of the field in Part Two of the Propædia. Wyllie was President of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) from 1995 to 1999.

Awards and honours Polar Medal, 1954 National Academy of Sciences, USA, 1981 Wollaston Medal, Geological Society of London, 1982 Fellow of the Royal Society, London, 1984 Roebling Medal, Mineralogical Society of America, 2001

References

External links "Peter J. Wyllie". California Institute of Technology. 2008.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Peter John Wyllie

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Peter John Wyllie 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 Peter John Wyllie 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 Peter John Wyllie 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 Peter John Wyllie

In research: Peter John Wyllie 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 Peter John Wyllie 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: Peter John Wyllie is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1930 births, Academics of the University of Leeds, Alumni of the University of St Andrews, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Peter John Wyllie 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 Peter John Wyllie in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Peter John Wyllie in simple terms?

Why does Peter John Wyllie 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 Peter John Wyllie?

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 Peter John Wyllie.