astronomy

Rod Boswell

Rod Boswell 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 Rod Boswell rather than just read about it. In short: Roderick William Boswell (born 1932) is an Australian physicist. He is a professor at the Australian National University in Canberra, in the Space Plasma, Power and Propulsion group of the Plasma Research Laboratory.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Roderick William Boswell (born 1932) is an Australian physicist. He is a professor at the Australian National University in Canberra, in the Space Plasma, Power and Propulsion group of the Plasma Research Laboratory. He invented a technology which become the basis for the development of a new type of rocket thruster, the Helicon Double Layer Thruster: the ongoing development of the Australian Plasma Thruster is supported by the European Space Agency.

Biography Rod Boswell was born in Yackandandah in 1932. After taking his B.Sc. at the University of Adelaide, he completed a Ph.D. at Flinders University in South Australia. There, in 1969, he was instrumental in establishing the radical student newspaper Empire Times by purchasing and running, in the living room of his home, an offset press, thereby liberating the new newspaper from the censorious tendencies of commercial printers. His honours and awards include:

In 2000, he received the Plasma Science & Technology Division Plasma Prize from the American Vacuum Society "for outstanding scientific and technical contributions to the fields of plasma science and technology." In 2001 he was awarded a Centenary Medal "for service to Australian society in applied physics". In 2008 he was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science In 2012 he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) "for service to science in the field of plasma physics as an academic and researcher and through contributions to the international scientific community".

References

External links "ANU people given The Order on Australia Day". States News Service. 27 January 2012. Archived from the original on 19 March 2016. Retrieved 19 April 2015.(subscription required) "A vision to Mars". Australasian Business Intelligence. 2 April 2004. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 19 April 2015.(subscription required)

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Rod Boswell

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Rod Boswell 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 Rod Boswell 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 Rod Boswell 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 Rod Boswell

In research: Rod Boswell 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 Rod Boswell 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: Rod Boswell is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1932 births, 20th-century Australian scientists, 21st-century Australian physicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Rod Boswell 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 Rod Boswell in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Rod Boswell in simple terms?

Why does Rod Boswell 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 Rod Boswell?

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 Rod Boswell.