astronomy

Reginald Coates

Reginald Coates 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 Reginald Coates rather than just read about it. In short: Professor Reginald "Rex" Charles Coates (28 June 1920 – 22 November 2004) was a British civil engineer, academic and the 114th president of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Early life Coates was born in New Mills, Derbyshire and was educated at New Mills Grammar School, and the Herbert Strutt Grammar School in Belper.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Professor Reginald "Rex" Charles Coates (28 June 1920 – 22 November 2004) was a British civil engineer, academic and the 114th president of the Institution of Civil Engineers.

Early life Coates was born in New Mills, Derbyshire and was educated at New Mills Grammar School, and the Herbert Strutt Grammar School in Belper. He was taken into articled pupilage, a form of apprenticeship, by Mansfield Borough Council and studied for a degree in Civil Engineering at University College Nottingham.

Career He served as an officer in the Royal Engineers during the Second World War, being commissioned as a second lieutenant on 16 August 1942, and was posted to North Africa, Sicily, Italy and Austria. In 1946 he took up a lecturing post at his alma mater, now the University of Nottingham, using the university’s facilities to undertake research for his doctorate. He retained his commission and was involved in the University Officers Training Corps detachment. In 1958 he was appointed as the head of the School of Civil Engineering, taking over from Sir Joseph Pope. When the Faculty of Engineering moved to new premises in the 1960s Coates was heavily involved in the planning of the new buildings. Under his leadership the school became recognized as one of the leading civil engineering research establishments in the country. He later served the university as Dean of Engineering and as Vice-Chancellor. He was elected president of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1978 and retired from his University positions shortly afterwards. He later took up the post of Head of Civil Engineering at the Papua New Guinea University of Technology in Lae, PNG.

Personal life He married Doris Sheila Sharrad in 1942, and they had two sons and one daughter. Coates was a victim of Alzheimer's and died in 2004. The main Faculty of Engineering building at the University of Nottingham was named after him in recognition of his contributions to the university.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Reginald Coates

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Reginald Coates 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 Reginald Coates 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 Reginald Coates 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 Reginald Coates

In research: Reginald Coates 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 Reginald Coates 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: Reginald Coates is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1920 births, 2004 deaths, Academic staff of the University of Papua New Guinea, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Reginald Coates 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 Reginald Coates in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Reginald Coates in simple terms?

Professor Reginald "Rex" Charles Coates (28 June 1920 – 22 November 2004) was a British civil engineer, academic and the 114th president of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Early life Coates was born in New Mills, Derbyshire and was educated at New Mills Grammar School, and the Herbert Strutt Gr…

Why does Reginald Coates 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 Reginald Coates?

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 Reginald Coates.