astronomy

Richard McCray

Richard McCray 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 McCray rather than just read about it. In short: Richard Alan McCray (24 November 1937 – 26 October 2021) was an American astronomer and astrophysicist. McCray received his B.S. in physics from Stanford University in 1959 and his Ph.D. in physics in 1967 from the University of California, Los Angeles with thesis advisor Peter Goldreich.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Richard Alan McCray (24 November 1937 – 26 October 2021) was an American astronomer and astrophysicist. McCray received his B.S. in physics from Stanford University in 1959 and his Ph.D. in physics in 1967 from the University of California, Los Angeles with thesis advisor Peter Goldreich. McCray was a research fellow at Caltech from 1967 to 1968 and then an assistant professor at Harvard University from 1968 to 1971. At the department of astrophysical and planetary sciences of the University of Colorado Boulder, he was from 1971 to 1975 an associate professor, from 1975 to 1997 a full professor, from 1997 to 2004 the George Gamow Distinguished Professor Astrophysics, and from 2004 to 2013 a professor emeritus. Since 2013, he has been a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley. He was a visiting scholar at the Goddard Space Flight Center of the NASA in 1983–1984, at Peking University and Nanjing University in Fall 1987, at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Spring 1988, at Columbia University in 1989–1990, and at the University of California, Berkeley in Spring 1997. McCray's research was concerned with the theory of interstellar gas dynamics and the theory of cosmic X-ray sources. In particular for interstellar gas dynamics, he did research on the formation of interstellar bubbles by stellar winds and superbubbles formed by multiple supernova explosions in galactic gas disks. His research on cosmic X-ray sources has dealt with, among other topics, the mechanism of the transformation of X-ray emission in the optical and UV range for neutron stars and black holes. He studied and modeled the evolution of the spectrum of SN1987A and with several colleagues made some correct predictions about events involving the SN1987A ring system. In addition to theoretical calculations and computer simulations, he made observations using the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory. He was a Guggenheim Fellow for the academic year 1975–1976. He was elected in 1989 a member of the National Academy of Sciences and in 2004 a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1990 he received the Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Richard McCray

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Richard McCray 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 McCray 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 McCray 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 McCray

In research: Richard McCray 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 McCray 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 McCray is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1937 births, 2021 deaths, 20th-century American astronomers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Richard McCray 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 McCray in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Richard McCray in simple terms?

Why does Richard McCray 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 McCray?

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 McCray.