astronomy

Rex Malcolm Chaplin Dawson

Rex Malcolm Chaplin Dawson 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 Rex Malcolm Chaplin Dawson rather than just read about it. In short: Rex Malcolm Chaplin Dawson FRS (1924–2021) was a British biochemist whose research was primarily dedicated to the study of phospholipids. His career was based at the Babraham Institute, Cambridge, starting in 1955, in the newly formed biochemistry department.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Rex Malcolm Chaplin Dawson FRS (1924–2021) was a British biochemist whose research was primarily dedicated to the study of phospholipids. His career was based at the Babraham Institute, Cambridge, starting in 1955, in the newly formed biochemistry department. He served as honorary publications secretary for The Biochemical Society (1973–1980), and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1981.

Biography Rex Malcom Chaplin Dawson was born on 3 June 1924 in Stoke Golding, Leicestershire, the second son of James Dawson, newspaperman, and Ethel Mary (née Chaplin), teacher of music, English and art. When he was 11 the family moved to nearby Hinckley, where Dawson attended the local Grammar School. There, "he gained a sudden early fascination with science" after reading Wonders of Chemistry. He gained a scholarship to University College London (UCL) and was awarded first class honours for his degree in applied and theoretical physics in 1945. He then moved to Cardiff to join Derek Richter's group at Whitchurch Hospital. His work there on the metabolism of the brain earned him a PhD in 1949. Dawson stayed on at Cardiff, doing further work on the metabolism of phospholipids. He then moved in 1952 to the biochemistry department at Oxford where he continued his investigations, leading to the publication of an important paper. The head of his department, Sir Rudolph Peters FRS retired in 1954 and went on set up a new department of biochemistry at the Agricultural Research Council Animal Physiology Unit at Babraham. Peters had noted Dawson's talent, and offered him a position in the new organisation in 1955. Dawson moved to Babraham and remained for thirty years. Dawson was honorary publications secretary for The Biochemical Society from 1973 to 1980. His contributions to the future of the organization were key: "With his fellow officers of the society, Rex played a major role in getting things onto a more secure financial and administrative basis, a legacy that continues to this day in a flourishing society".

Family Rex Dawson married Emily Elizabeth Hodder in Edmonton, London in the summer of 1946. Their two children, Hazel Anne and John Rex, were born in Bristol in 1947 and Cardiff in 1951 respectively:

Anne, a physiologist, married David Atherton; their son Joe does research on microtubules at King's College London. John Rex (more usually Rex) is an Emeritus Consultant Cardiologist, Barts Health NHS Trust. Emily Elizabeth Dawson died on 29 September 2005. In 2009, Rex Malcom Chaplin Dawson married June Margaret Buschman (née Pepper), who had lost her husband Petrus in 2004. Rex died on 29 March 2021 in Langham, Norfolk.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Rex Malcolm Chaplin Dawson

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Rex Malcolm Chaplin Dawson 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 Rex Malcolm Chaplin Dawson 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 Rex Malcolm Chaplin Dawson 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 Rex Malcolm Chaplin Dawson

In research: Rex Malcolm Chaplin Dawson 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 Rex Malcolm Chaplin Dawson 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: Rex Malcolm Chaplin Dawson is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1924 births, 2021 deaths, Alumni of Cardiff University, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Rex Malcolm Chaplin Dawson 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 Rex Malcolm Chaplin Dawson in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Rex Malcolm Chaplin Dawson in simple terms?

Why does Rex Malcolm Chaplin Dawson 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 Rex Malcolm Chaplin Dawson?

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 Rex Malcolm Chaplin Dawson.