astronomy

Richard John Pentreath

Richard John Pentreath 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 John Pentreath rather than just read about it. In short: Richard John (usually known as ‘Jan’) Pentreath is a British marine scientist who made major contributions to radioecology, particularly with regard to alpha-emitting nuclides in the marine environment. He went on to broaden the international system of radiological protection to include animals and plants with respect to different exposure situations, as well as protection of the animal as patient in veterinary medi…

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Richard John (usually known as ‘Jan’) Pentreath is a British marine scientist who made major contributions to radioecology, particularly with regard to alpha-emitting nuclides in the marine environment. He went on to broaden the international system of radiological protection to include animals and plants with respect to different exposure situations, as well as protection of the animal as patient in veterinary medicine. He also played a major role in the success of the National Rivers Authority and its subsequent merging with other bodies to form the Environment Agency.

Education Pentreath was a County scholar to Queen Mary College, University of London, graduating in zoology, with special honours in marine zoology. After winning a Commonwealth scholarship he did a PhD on ophiuroids (brittle stars) at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, being the first to do so at their Leigh Marine Laboratory, and returned to the UK to take up a Science Research Council Fellowship at the Fisheries Radiobiological Laboratory (FRL) at Hamilton Dock.

Research and career Becoming a member of staff at the Fisheries Radiobiological Laboratory in 1969, Pentreath carried out research into the behaviour, fate, and accumulation of various radionuclides (fission and neutron activation products, and those of the transuranic series) by marine fish and shellfish as well as the use of radiotracers to study various marine pollutants, being awarded a DSc (London) in 1980. He then became Head of Research (1985) at FRL, and then later deputy director of Fisheries Research. Pentreath was heavily involved with international organisations, particularly the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Agency of the OECD, in relation to exchanging information and developing methodologies for these new areas of research, and in relation to the control of low-level dumping of radioactive wastes at sea, plus research into the feasibility of disposing of high level radioactive wastes into the tectonic plates of the ocean floor. He was responsible for the task of cleaning up the rivers and estuaries of England and Wales. He was seconded to the Department of the Environment (DoE) in 1994 to help create the Environment Agency (EA) in 1995, then becoming its Chief Scientist and Director of Environmental Strategy. In 2000 Pentreath became Professor of Environmental Sciences and Principal Research Fellow at the Environmental Systems Science Centre (ESSC), School of Mathematics, Meteorology and Physics, University of Reading until 2006, then becoming Professor Emeritus. During this period he was also appointed by the Secretary of State to the UK's Joint Nature Conservation Committee (2000-2006). Pentreath produced a series of papers on the problem of demonstrating protection of the environment with respect to ionizing radiation, and how it could be addressed by the development of a set of ‘Reference Animals and Plants’. Pentreath has also continued to be involved with marine radioecology, and was recently engaged with evaluating the impact of nuclear powered vessels on the marine environment.

Awards and honors Commonwealth scholar (1965) Science Research Council Fellow (1968) FRSB (1980) FSRP (1989) DSc (hc) University of Hertfordshire (1998) DSc (hc) University of West of England (1999) DSc (hc) University of Plymouth (2002) Emeritus research fellow, Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (2014) Emeritus Member ICRP Main Commission (2014) Hon. FSRP (2018)

Publications Occurrence of plutonium and americium in plaice from the north–eastern Irish Sea. Transuranic nuclides in plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) from the north-eastern Irish Sea. Radiological protection of the patient in veterinary medicine and the role of ICRP. Radiological protection and the exposure of animals as patients in veterinary medicine. ICRP's approach to protection of the living environment under different exposure situations. ICRP Publication 124: Protection of the Environment under Different Exposure Situations. Clarifying and simplifying the management of environmental exposures under different exposure situations. Ethics, genetics and dynamics: An emerging systematic approach to radiation protection of the environment.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Richard John Pentreath

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Richard John Pentreath 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 John Pentreath 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 John Pentreath 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 John Pentreath

In research: Richard John Pentreath 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 John Pentreath 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 John Pentreath is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Academics of the University of Reading, Alumni of Queen Mary University of London, Biogeochemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Richard John Pentreath 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.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Richard John Pentreath” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Richard John Pentreath in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Richard John Pentreath in simple terms?

Why does Richard John Pentreath 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 John Pentreath?

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 John Pentreath.