physics

Richard Sillitto

Richard Sillitto is a physics 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 Sillitto rather than just read about it. In short: Richard Malcolm Sillitto (3 March 1923 – 19 April 2005) was an optical physicist who wrote a useful text on quantum mechanics. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Fellow of the Institute of Physics as well as a past president of the Scottish branch of the Institute of Physics.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Richard Malcolm Sillitto (3 March 1923 – 19 April 2005) was an optical physicist who wrote a useful text on quantum mechanics. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Fellow of the Institute of Physics as well as a past president of the Scottish branch of the Institute of Physics. Sillitto was reader and Reader Emeritus in the physics department of the University of Edinburgh. Sillitto was born in Lockerbie, the son of George Sillitto. He attended Dumfries Academy. During World War II he worked for the Admiralty Signals and Radar Establishment at Haslemere. After the war, he pursued advanced studies in optical physics at the University of Edinburgh. Sillitto married Winifred McMillan, an engineer, in 1947. They had a son. Sillitto died in Dunbar in 2005, at the age of 82.

Publications

Textbooks Nonrelativistic Quantum Mechanics, (1967), Publ. Edinburgh UP, ISBN 0-85224-128-3 Geometrical and Physical Optics, Longman Higher Education, ISBN 0-582-08880-1

Articles "The Measurement of Small Errors in 90° Prisms" (1947) "Correlation between Events in Photon Detectors" (1957) "Light waves, radio waves and photons" (1960) "Two-point Resolution Criteria in Partially Coherent Imaging" (1973, with Eric C. Kintner) "A New 'Analytic' Method for Computing the Optical Transfer Function" (1976, with Eric C. Kintner) "Edge-ringing in Partially Coherent Imaging" (1977, with Eric C. Kintner) "Development of a spatial light modulator: a randomly addressed liquid-crystal-over-nMOS array" (1989, with Douglas J. McKnight and David G. Vass)

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Richard Sillitto

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

In research: Richard Sillitto appears in physics 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 Sillitto 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 Sillitto is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1923 births, 2005 deaths, Academics of the University of Edinburgh, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Richard Sillitto 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 Sillitto” →

Affiliate

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

How to study Richard Sillitto in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Richard Sillitto in simple terms?

Why does Richard Sillitto matter?

Because it connects several physics 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 Sillitto?

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 Sillitto.