physics

Robin Marshall

Robin Marshall 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 Robin Marshall rather than just read about it. In short: Robin Marshall (born 1940) is an Emeritus professor of Physics & Biology in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester. Education Marshall was educated at Ermysted's Grammar School in Skipton and the University of Manchester where he was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in 1962 followed by a PhD in 1965 for research developing sonic spark chambers and studying pion pair production in pio…

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Robin Marshall (born 1940) is an Emeritus professor of Physics & Biology in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester.

Education Marshall was educated at Ermysted's Grammar School in Skipton and the University of Manchester where he was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in 1962 followed by a PhD in 1965 for research developing sonic spark chambers and studying pion pair production in pion proton interactions.

Career and research Marshall is an innovator in the field of high-energy electron–positron annihilation, making many personal contributions. He was the first at the Positron–Electron Tandem Ring Accelerator (PETRA) e+e− collider at the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) to determine the electroweak properties of leptons and then quarks. These papers become templates for other experimenters over the next ten years. He performed the definitive analysis of the world's electron–positron data to produce what are now the textbook results for the Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) 'fine structure' constant and the fermion electroweak interaction parameters. In 1984, he published a novel method for isolating bottom quark events and then used the method to measure the b electroweak properties, showing that it belonged to a weak isospin doublet state, and hence that the top quark must exist. This was one of several significant physics results from PETRA. He was a group leader at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) from 1978 to 1992, and in the 1990s led the British involvement in an experiment at the electron–proton collider, Hadron-Elektron-Ringanlage (HERA), at DESY.

Awards and honours Marshall was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1995 and was a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (FInstP) from 1996 to 2018. In 1997, he was awarded the Max Born Medal and Prize by the German Physical Society.

Publications Marshall has published a comprehensive history of "Three Centuries of Manchester Physics", in five volumes, covering the scientific, cultural, social and political aspects of the evolution of the subject in the city and its immediate surroundings. In 2018, he published a book containing letters written mainly by physicists to the Nobel Prize winner William Lawrence Bragg during the first worlds war, providing fresh insight into the deeds and thoughts of scientists active in the front line of battle. In 2019, he published a history of the discovery of transmutation in Manchester by Ernest Rutherford in 1919. He has written one work of fiction "The Nobel Conspiracy".

References

This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Robin Marshall

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Robin Marshall 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 Robin Marshall 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 Robin Marshall 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 Robin Marshall

In research: Robin Marshall 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 Robin Marshall 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: Robin Marshall is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1940 births, Academics of the University of Manchester, Alumni of the University of Manchester, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Robin Marshall 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 Robin Marshall in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Robin Marshall in simple terms?

Robin Marshall (born 1940) is an Emeritus professor of Physics & Biology in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester. Education Marshall was educated at Ermysted's Grammar School in Skipton and the University of Manchester where he was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree…

Why does Robin Marshall 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 Robin Marshall?

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 Robin Marshall.