astronomy

Ralph Allan Sampson

Ralph Allan Sampson 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 Ralph Allan Sampson rather than just read about it. In short: Ralph Allan (or Allen) Sampson FRS FRSE LLD (25 June 1866 – 7 November 1939) was a British astronomer. Life Sampson was born in Schull, County Cork in Ireland, then part of the UK.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Ralph Allan (or Allen) Sampson FRS FRSE LLD (25 June 1866 – 7 November 1939) was a British astronomer.

Life Sampson was born in Schull, County Cork in Ireland, then part of the UK. He was the fourth of five children to James Sampson, a Cornish-born metallurgical chemist, and his wife, Sarah Anne Macdermott. The family moved to Liverpool and Sampson attended the Liverpool Institute and then graduated from St. John's College, Cambridge in 1888. In 1891 he was awarded a scholarship to carry out astronomical research at Cambridge University. (He had been a student of astronomer John Couch Adams, and helped to edit and publish Part I of the second volume of Adams' papers in 1900). In 1893, Sampson was made Professor of Mathematics at Durham College of Science in Newcastle-on-Tyne and was elected Professor of Mathematics at Durham University in 1895. In December 1910, he became Astronomer Royal for Scotland (until 1937) and Professor of Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh. He did pioneering work in measuring the color temperature of stars. He did important research into the theory of the motions of Jupiter's four Galilean satellites, for which he won the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1928. He served as president of the Royal Astronomical Society from 1915 to 1917. In June 1903, Sampson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1911 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Sir Frank Watson Dyson, Sir James Walker, Arthur Robinson, and James Gordon MacGregor. He served as the Society's Vice President 1915 to 1918 and as Secretary 1922-23 and General Secretary 1923 to 1933. He won their Keith Prize for 1919–1920. At the fifth International Congress of Mathematicians held in 1912 in Cambridge, Sampson presented a paper entitled Some points in the theory of errors. He retired in 1937 aged 71 due to failing health, and subsequently moved to Bath. He died, aged 73, in Bath, Somerset on 7 November 1939.

Family In 1893 he married Ida M. Binney (1868-1940) of the Prescott (Liverpool) area, south Lancashire. She died a year later than her husband in Poole, Dorset. His daughter, Peggie Sampson (1912-2004) was a professional cellist and educator. His brother John Sampson was a linguist and Romany scholar.

Publications The Eclipses of Jupiter's Satellites (1909) 'The Sun (1914) On Gravitation and Relativity (1920) Theory of the Four Great Satellites of Jupiter (1921)

Recognition The crater Sampson on the Moon is named after him.

References

External links Awarding of RAS Gold Medal: MNRAS 88 (1928) 334 Awarding of RAS Gold Medal: Obs 51 (1928) 65 Entry in the Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers Works by Ralph Allan Sampson at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)

Obituaries MNRAS 100 (1940) 258– 263 Obs 63 (1940) 105 (one paragraph)

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Ralph Allan Sampson

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Ralph Allan Sampson 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 Ralph Allan Sampson 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 Ralph Allan Sampson 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 Ralph Allan Sampson

In research: Ralph Allan Sampson 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 Ralph Allan Sampson 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: Ralph Allan Sampson is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1866 births, 1939 deaths, 19th-century British astronomers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Ralph Allan Sampson 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 Ralph Allan Sampson in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Ralph Allan Sampson in simple terms?

Ralph Allan (or Allen) Sampson FRS FRSE LLD (25 June 1866 – 7 November 1939) was a British astronomer. Life Sampson was born in Schull, County Cork in Ireland, then part of the UK.

Why does Ralph Allan Sampson 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 Ralph Allan Sampson?

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 Ralph Allan Sampson.