astronomy

Robert Williams (astronomer)

Robert Williams (astronomer) 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 Robert Williams (astronomer) rather than just read about it. In short: Robert Eugene Williams (October 14, 1940) is an American astronomer who served as the director of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) from 1993 to 1998, and the president of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) from 2009 to 2012. Prior to his work at STScI, he was a professor of astronomy at the University of Arizona in Tucson for 18 years and the director of Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory f…

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Robert Eugene Williams (October 14, 1940) is an American astronomer who served as the director of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) from 1993 to 1998, and the president of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) from 2009 to 2012. Prior to his work at STScI, he was a professor of astronomy at the University of Arizona in Tucson for 18 years and the director of Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory from 1986 to 1993.

Education Williams studied at the University of California, Berkeley receiving a bachelor of science degree in 1962. He completed a doctorate at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1965 with a thesis titled The Ionization and Temperature Equilibrium of a Gas Excited by Optical Synchrotron Radiation. His doctoral advisor was Donald Edward Osterbrock.

Career After receiving his doctorate in 1965 Williams was employed at the University of Arizona until 1983. From 1985 to 1993 he served as director of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, and from 1993 to 1998 he was director of STSci. As the director of STScI, he decided to devote a substantial fraction of his director's discretionary time on the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995 to the study of distant galaxies. This historic project resulted in the Hubble Deep Field, a landmark image showing in remarkable detail the structure of galaxies in the early universe. For his leadership of this project, he was awarded the 1998 Beatrice M. Tinsley Prize, the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal in 1999, and the 2016 Karl Schwarzschild Medal. A member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, Williams' research specialties cover nebulae, novae, and emission-line spectroscopy and analysis. He is an advocate for science education and has lectured internationally on the discoveries of the Hubble Space Telescope. In 1996, Williams made the controversial decision to offer the director's discretionary time on the Hubble Space Telescope to two competing teams using distant supernovae to determine the universe's expansion rate accurately. The two teams independently found that the universe's expansion was accelerating due to a previously unknown energy source. The leaders of the two teams were awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery. In 2015 Williams retired and was appointed emeritus professor of STScI.

References

External links

1995: Robert Williams Peers into Deep Space - Timeline of Everyday Cosmology, by the Carnegie Institution for Science. Starmus profile of Robert Williams

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Robert Williams (astronomer)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Robert Williams (astronomer) 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 Robert Williams (astronomer) 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 Robert Williams (astronomer) 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 Robert Williams (astronomer)

In research: Robert Williams (astronomer) 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 Robert Williams (astronomer) 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: Robert Williams (astronomer) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1940 births, American astronomers, American spectroscopists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Robert Williams (astronomer) 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 Robert Williams (astronomer) in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Robert Williams (astronomer) in simple terms?

Why does Robert Williams (astronomer) 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 Robert Williams (astronomer)?

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 Robert Williams (astronomer).