astronomy

Renée C. Kraan-Korteweg

Renée C. Kraan-Korteweg 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 Renée C. Kraan-Korteweg rather than just read about it. In short: Renée C. Kraan-Korteweg (born 1954) is a Dutch-South African scientist.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Renée C. Kraan-Korteweg (born 1954) is a Dutch-South African scientist. She is head of the University of Cape Town department of astronomy and founder and co-director of the Astrophysics, Cosmology and Gravity Centre. She serves as vice president of the executive committee of the International Astronomical Union and is a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa.

Education and work experience Kraan-Korteweg graduated from the Gymnasium Münchenstein in Switzerland in 1972. She attained an MSc (Physics and Mathematics) from the Universität Basel in 1978 and a PhD in Astronomy in 1985. This was followed by a 6-year research fellowship at the University of Basel, a 3-year fellowship of the Royal Dutch Academy of Science (KNAW) at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen and a 3-year European Community fellowship at the Observatoire de Paris-Meudon. In 1997 she was appointed a professor at the Universidad de Guanajuato in Mexico, where she stayed for 7 years. She became head of the Astronomy department of the university in 2002. Kraan-Korteweg was appointed Vice-President of the International Astronomical Union in 2012 and served in that position until August 2018. She served as the head of the Astronomy department at the University of Cape Town from 2005. In 2009 Kraan-Korteweg founded and remains co-director of the Astrophysics, Gravity and Cosmology Research Centre at the university. In 2013 she became a member of the Astronomy Advisory Council of the National Research Foundation (NRF) and is chair of the council.

Research interests Her research interests include the large-scale structure of the Cosmos and streaming motions in the nearby universe. She conducts research with the South African Large Telescope (SALT), searching for black holes in the centre of dwarf elliptical galaxies and calculating the dark matter content of low-surface-brightness galaxies. She participated in the Parkes HI Zone of Avoidance Survey, which used the Parkes 60m Radio Telescope to discover nearby galaxies previously "hidden" by the Great Attractor.

Awards and recognition In 2018 she won the Minister’s Special Award in the field of astronomy at the South African Women in Science Awards (SAWISA) 2018, in recognition of her “outstanding contribution to building South Africa’s scientific and research knowledge base in advancing the field of astronomy”. In 2006 the NRF awarded Kraan-Korteweg NRF Rating B and has reaffirmed that rating subsequently. In 2011 she was 2nd runner-up, Distinguished Women in Life, Natural and Engineering Science Department of Science and Technology Women in Science Award.

References

External links Renée C. Kraan-Korteweg publications indexed by Google Scholar

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Renée C. Kraan-Korteweg

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Renée C. Kraan-Korteweg 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 Renée C. Kraan-Korteweg 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 Renée C. Kraan-Korteweg 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 Renée C. Kraan-Korteweg

In research: Renée C. Kraan-Korteweg 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 Renée C. Kraan-Korteweg 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: Renée C. Kraan-Korteweg is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1954 births, 20th-century Dutch astronomers, Academic staff of the University of Cape Town, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Renée C. Kraan-Korteweg 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 Renée C. Kraan-Korteweg in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Renée C. Kraan-Korteweg in simple terms?

Renée C. Kraan-Korteweg (born 1954) is a Dutch-South African scientist.

Why does Renée C. Kraan-Korteweg 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 Renée C. Kraan-Korteweg?

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 Renée C. Kraan-Korteweg.