science

Richard H. Small

Richard H. Small is a science 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 H. Small rather than just read about it. In short: Richard H. Small (born 1935) is an American scientist, who has worked mainly in the field of electroacoustics.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Richard H. Small (born 1935) is an American scientist, who has worked mainly in the field of electroacoustics. He is known for the commonly used Thiele/Small parameters for loudspeaker enclosure design, which are named after Small and his colleague Neville Thiele.

Early life Small was born in San Diego, California. His father was an amateur pianist. Having a keen interest in electronics he built the amplifiers to drive the speakers in his parents house. His father built various enclosures for the loudspeakers, following the trends of the times. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the California Institute of Technology in 1956 and a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1958.

Career He gained experience in electronic circuit design for high-performance analytical instruments at the Bell & Howell Research Center in California from 1958 to 1964. During this period, he took a one-year visiting fellowship at the Norwegian Technical University. After a working visit to Japan in 1964, he moved to Australia, where he got a part-time job at the University of Sydney as a teaching assistant in the electronics lab. He became interested in loudspeaker analysis and measurement and met A. N. Thiele who was lecturing at the university. He was awarded a Ph.D. degree in 1972. Upon completion of his Ph.D., he published a series of nine papers—now considered classics—on the low-frequency analysis of closed-box, vented and passive radiator loudspeaker systems. He taught for a number of years at that university, but returned to industry in 1986 as Head of Research at KEF Electronics Ltd. in Maidstone, England until 1993. He then joined Harman International based in their Martinsville, Indiana, USA facility.

References

External links Voice Coil Interviews Richard H. Small

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Richard H. Small

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Richard H. Small claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, 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 H. Small 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 H. Small 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 H. Small

In research: Richard H. Small appears in science 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 H. Small 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 H. Small is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1935 births, American scientists, Living people, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Richard H. Small 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 H. Small in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Richard H. Small in simple terms?

Richard H. Small (born 1935) is an American scientist, who has worked mainly in the field of electroacoustics.

Why does Richard H. Small matter?

Because it connects several science 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 H. Small?

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 H. Small.