astronomy

Richard Swann Lull

Richard Swann Lull 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 Swann Lull rather than just read about it. In short: Richard Swann Lull (November 6, 1867 – April 22, 1957) was an American paleontologist and Sterling Professor at Yale University who is largely remembered for championing a non-Darwinian view of evolution, whereby mutation(s) could unlock presumed "genetic drives" that, over time, would lead populations to increasingly extreme phenotypes (and perhaps, ultimately, to extinction). Life Lull was born in Annapolis, Maryl…

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Richard Swann Lull (November 6, 1867 – April 22, 1957) was an American paleontologist and Sterling Professor at Yale University who is largely remembered for championing a non-Darwinian view of evolution, whereby mutation(s) could unlock presumed "genetic drives" that, over time, would lead populations to increasingly extreme phenotypes (and perhaps, ultimately, to extinction).

Life

Lull was born in Annapolis, Maryland, the son of naval officer Edward Phelps Lull and Elizabeth Burton, daughter of General Henry Burton. He married Clara Coles Boggs, and he has a daughter, Dorothy. He majored in zoology at Rutgers College, where he received both his undergraduate and master's degrees (M.S. 1896). He worked for the Division of Entomology of the United States Department of Agriculture but in 1894 became an assistant professor of zoology at the State Agricultural College in Amherst, Massachusetts (now the University of Massachusetts Amherst). Lull's interest in fossil footprints began at Amherst College, renowned for its collection of fossil footprints, and eventually led him to switch from entomology to paleontology. In 1899, Lull worked as a member of the American Museum of Natural History's expedition to Bone Cabin Quarry, Wyoming, helping to collect that museum's brontosaur skeleton. In 1902, he again joined an American Museum team in Montana, then studied under Columbia University professor Henry Fairfield Osborn. In 1903, he received his Ph.D. from Columbia University, and in 1906, after a brief time at Amherst, he was named assistant professor of Vertebrate Paleontology in Yale College and Associate Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Peabody Museum of Natural History. He stayed at Yale for the next 50 years. In 1933, Lull was awarded the Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal from the National Academy of Sciences. One famous example he used to support his non-Darwinian evolution theory concerned the enormous antlers of the Irish elk: he argued that these could not possibly be the result of natural selection, and instead reflected one of his "unlocked genetic drives" toward ever-increasing antler size. The poor elk, coping in each generation with ever-bigger antlers were eventually driven extinct. His evolutionary theory was a form of orthogenesis. His book Organic Evolution (1917) received positive reviews and was described as an "excellent summary of the theories, facts, and factors of evolution."

Publications Fossils: What They Tell Us of Plants and Animals of the Past (1931) A Revision of the Ceratopsia or Horned Dinosaurs (1933) The Ways of Life (1925) Organic Evolution (1917) Fossil Footprints of the Jura-Trias of North America (1904)

References

Yale History and Archives: Richard Swann Lull

External links

Works by or about Richard Swann Lull at the Internet Archive Works by Richard Swann Lull at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Richard Swann Lull

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Richard Swann Lull 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 Swann Lull 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 Swann Lull 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 Swann Lull

In research: Richard Swann Lull 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 Swann Lull 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 Swann Lull is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1867 births, 1957 deaths, American paleontologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Richard Swann Lull 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 Swann Lull in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Richard Swann Lull in simple terms?

Why does Richard Swann Lull 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 Swann Lull?

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 Swann Lull.