astronomy

Rex Mortimer

Rex Mortimer 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 Mortimer rather than just read about it. In short: Rex Alfred Mortimer (11 February 1926 – 31 December 1979) was an Australian academic and expert on communism. Mortimer attended Melbourne High School and received a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Melbourne in 1947.

Key takeaways

Rex Mortimer 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 Mortimer to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Rex Mortimer from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Rex Alfred Mortimer (11 February 1926 – 31 December 1979) was an Australian academic and expert on communism.

Mortimer attended Melbourne High School and received a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Melbourne in 1947. He became a member of the Communist Party of Australia at the university and remained active until 1969. He completed a doctorate dissertation on the Communist Party of Indonesia at Monash University in 1971 under the guidance of Herbert Feith. Mortimer went on to become a faculty member of the University of Sydney before dying of cancer at Royal North Shore Hospital on New Year's Eve 1979. Peter Singer cites his death as an assisted suicide case in Rethinking Life & Death, reporting that Mortimer died from sleeping pills that he had his wife smuggle to him in the hospital. He was married to Mary Eleanor Johnston, and the couple had one son and one daughter.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Rex Mortimer

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Rex Mortimer 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 Mortimer 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 Mortimer 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 Mortimer

In research: Rex Mortimer 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 Mortimer 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 Mortimer is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1926 births, 1979 deaths, Academic staff of the University of Sydney, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Rex Mortimer 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 Mortimer in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Rex Mortimer in simple terms?

Rex Alfred Mortimer (11 February 1926 – 31 December 1979) was an Australian academic and expert on communism. Mortimer attended Melbourne High School and received a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Melbourne in 1947.

Why does Rex Mortimer 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 Mortimer?

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 Mortimer.