astronomy

Peter Ridd

Peter Ridd 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 Ridd rather than just read about it. In short: Peter Vincent Ridd is an Australian physicist, author, and former professor at James Cook University (JCU), North Queensland, Australia. Ridd is known for a lengthy legal battle with his former employer JCU, which has been variously characterised as a battle for academic freedom and as a media campaign seeking to discredit the science informing the protection of the Great Barrier Reef.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Peter Vincent Ridd is an Australian physicist, author, and former professor at James Cook University (JCU), North Queensland, Australia. Ridd is known for a lengthy legal battle with his former employer JCU, which has been variously characterised as a battle for academic freedom and as a media campaign seeking to discredit the science informing the protection of the Great Barrier Reef.

Education Ridd received a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from James Cook University in 1978, and later a PhD in Physics from that same institution in 1980. At this time, he also joined the Australian Institute of Marine Science. He started studying the Great Barrier Reef in 1984, mainly focusing on ocean currents and the movement of sediment.

Career While teaching at JCU, Ridd was the head of the Physics department from 2009 to 2016, and head of the Marine Geophysical Laboratory at that institution for 15 years.

Great Barrier Reef article With Piers Larcombe, Ridd wrote an opinion piece in November 2017, published in the January 2018 issue of Marine Pollution Bulletin, challenging the prevailing understanding of the state of the Great Barrier Reef, drawing attention to what he argued was a reproducibility crisis and certain specific papers relating to the state of the Great Barrier Reef, and recommending a new review body for policy science. A viewpoint article in rebuttal was printed in the April 2018 issue of the same journal by Schaffelke et al. Ridd replied in a further article in the June 2019 issue.

Dismissal from JCU Beginning in April 2016, James Cook University took a number of disciplinary measures over two years against Ridd, which culminated in Ridd being fired, for refusing to take down confidential information which he had placed publicly online. The university denied that the dismissal was over Ridd's views on climate change. Ridd filed two crowdfunded lawsuits, the second over the dismissal. On 16 April 2019, Ridd initially won the lawsuit, with James Cook University found to be in violation of the Fair Work Act 2009; in September 2019, Ridd was awarded in excess of AU$1 million, together with AU$125,000 pecuniary penalty. While the two parties continue to disagree whether the case related to academic freedom, the ruling judge said the case was "purely and simply about the proper construction of a clause in an enterprise agreement", although he also stated James Cook University had "not understood the whole concept of intellectual freedom". In July 2020, JCU won an appeal against this judgement from the full bench of the Federal Court. Ridd appealed to the High Court of Australia, but that appeal was dismissed.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Peter Ridd

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Peter Ridd 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 Ridd 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 Ridd 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 Ridd

In research: Peter Ridd 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 Ridd 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 Ridd is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 21st-century Australian writers, Academic staff of James Cook University, Australian physicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Peter Ridd 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 Ridd in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Peter Ridd in simple terms?

Why does Peter Ridd 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 Ridd?

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 Ridd.