astronomy

Richard D. James (scientist)

Richard D. James (scientist) 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 Richard D. James (scientist) rather than just read about it. In short: Richard D. James (born 1952) is a mechanician and materials scientist.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Richard D. James (born 1952) is a mechanician and materials scientist. He is currently the Russell J. Penrose Professor and Distinguished McKnight University Professor at the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics at the University of Minnesota. James is known for his research in phase transitions, especially reversible transformation in martensitic materials, including cases in which the phase transition is highly reversible and one phase is strongly magnetic or strongly ferroelectric.

Education and career James was educated at Brown University in 1974 and received his PhD from Johns Hopkins University in 1979 under the direction of J.L. Ericksen. He was a professor of engineering at Brown University before moving to the University of Minnesota in 1985.

Awards and honors James has received several awards, including the Theodore von Kármán Prize in 2014, Alexander von Humboldt Senior Research Award in 2006, the William Prager Medal in 2008, and the Brown Engineering Alumni Medal in 2009. The ASME awarded him the Warner T. Koiter Medal in 2008 for "pioneering the modern vision of phase transformations and materials instabilities in solids, explaining how microstructures form and evolve, and demonstrating how to take advantage of this to design new active materials". With John M. Ball, he has served as one of the chief editors of the Archive for Rational Mechanics and Analysis.

External links Faculty page at the University of Minnesota. UMN experts page at the University of Minnesota.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Richard D. James (scientist)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Richard D. James (scientist) 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 Richard D. James (scientist) 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 Richard D. James (scientist) 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 Richard D. James (scientist)

In research: Richard D. James (scientist) 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 Richard D. James (scientist) 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: Richard D. James (scientist) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1952 births, American materials scientists, American physicist stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Richard D. James (scientist) 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 Richard D. James (scientist) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Richard D. James (scientist) 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 Richard D. James (scientist) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Richard D. James (scientist) in simple terms?

Richard D. James (born 1952) is a mechanician and materials scientist.

Why does Richard D. James (scientist) 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 Richard D. James (scientist)?

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 Richard D. James (scientist).