science

Peter Thonning

Peter Thonning is a science 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 Thonning rather than just read about it. In short: Peter Thonning (9 October 1775 – 29 January 1848) was a Danish medical doctor and botanist. Biography Peter Thonning was born in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Peter Thonning (9 October 1775 – 29 January 1848) was a Danish medical doctor and botanist.

Biography

Peter Thonning was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was the son of Rasmus Andersen Thonning (1740–1817) and Dorothea Spendrup (1755–1835). He became a student in 1794 and studied medicine at the Metropolitanskolen. He was sent to Ghana by the Danish government mainly to study the conditions of plants, especially indigenous plants. He lived there from 1799 to 1803. Thonning had begun systematizing his botanical collections, but his herbarium was destroyed during the shelling of Copenhagen by the British in 1807. Only the duplicates and manuscripts in the possession of Heinrich Christian Friedrich Schumacher (1757–1830) survived. Today, around 1,050 samples are preserved at the University of Copenhagen Botanical Garden. Thonning tutored Ferdinand, Hereditary Prince of Denmark (1792–1863) from 1804 to 1810. He served as secretary of the General Customs Board (Generaltoldkammeret) in 1810 and from 1812 also secretary of the Canal, Port and Lighthouse Directorate (Kanal, Havne og Fyrdirektionen). He was a member of this executive board in 1815–16. In 1829, he joined the executive board of the Natural History Museum of Denmark and held this position until his death.

Personal life Thonning married Anna Maria Nicolina Kamphøffner (1784–1860) in 1810. He died in Copenhagen during 1848 and was buried at Assistens Cemetery.

Authority name The genus Thonningia of parasitic plants was named after him by Martin Vahl. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation Thonn. when citing a botanical name.

References

Other sources Daniel Hopkins (2012) Peter Thonning and Denmark's Guinea Commission: A Study in Nineteenth-Century African Colonial Geography (Brill. The Atlantic World, Volume: 24)ISBN 978-9004228689

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Peter Thonning

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Peter Thonning claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, 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 Thonning 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 Thonning 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 Thonning

In research: Peter Thonning appears in science 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 Thonning 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 Thonning is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1775 births, 1848 deaths, 19th-century Danish botanists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Peter Thonning 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 Thonning in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Peter Thonning in simple terms?

Peter Thonning (9 October 1775 – 29 January 1848) was a Danish medical doctor and botanist. Biography Peter Thonning was born in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Why does Peter Thonning matter?

Because it connects several science 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 Thonning?

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 Thonning.