physics

Rodney Cotterill

Rodney Cotterill 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 Rodney Cotterill rather than just read about it. In short: Rodney Michael John Cotterill Order of the Dannebrog (27 September 1933 – 24 June 2007) was an English-Danish physicist, and neuroscientist, who was educated at University College London (B.Sc., 1st), Yale (M.S.) and Cambridge University (Ph.D.). He spent most of his career as a professor at the Technical University of Denmark, Denmark, (1967-) after having spent five years as a researcher at the Argonne National La…

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Rodney Michael John Cotterill Order of the Dannebrog (27 September 1933 – 24 June 2007) was an English-Danish physicist, and neuroscientist, who was educated at University College London (B.Sc., 1st), Yale (M.S.) and Cambridge University (Ph.D.). He spent most of his career as a professor at the Technical University of Denmark, Denmark, (1967-) after having spent five years as a researcher at the Argonne National Laboratory.

Scientific career Cotterill was a prolific scientist who published over two hundred highly cited papers and books on a variety of topics in physics, biology and medicine. His initial research was in materials science, which was of such a high standard that he was subsequently elected to the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters. He became gradually more interested in biophysics, and especially the human brain, where he subsequently made important contributions to the study of consciousness. He was awarded Knight, first class of the Dannebrog in 1994 and given an honorary D.Sc. in 1973 by London University in materials science. Cotterill was a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (U.K.) (1967), Fellow, Danish Academy of Technical Science (1974-, Presidium, 1985-7) and a Fellow of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters (1984-, Presidium 1990-6). He was awarded the Hans and Ellen Hermer Memorial Prize in 1978 for his pioneering work in computer simulation. His lectures at the Technical University of Denmark in Biophysics and Brain-Physics were popular among students. In 2001 he received the "Lecturer of the Year" award, nominated by students.[1]

Life and other writings Cotterill wrote widely for the general public and his first book The Cambridge Guide to the Material World was published to great critical acclaim. Rodney Cotterill was born in Cornwall, near Jamaica Inn, Bolventor. In 1959, he married the Dane Vibeke Ejler Nielsen with whom he had two children Marianne and Jennifer, of which the former is a soprano singer and the latter has autism.

Books by Cotterill Cotterill, R.M.J. (ed.), Computer Simulation in Brain Science, Cambridge University Press, 1988. ISBN 978-0-521-34179-0 Cotterill, R.M.J. Autism, Intelligence and Consciousness, Munksgaard, 1994. Cotterill, R.M.J. (ed.), Models of Brain Function, Cambridge University Press, 1990. ISBN 978-0-521-38503-9 Cotterill, R.M.J., Biophysics : An Introduction, Wiley, 2002. ISBN 978-0-471-48538-4.

Books for the general public Cotterill, R.M.J., The Cambridge Guide to the Material World, Cambridge University Press, 1985. ISBN 0521246407 Cotterill, R.M.J., No ghost in the machine: Modern science and the brain, the mind, and the soul, Heinemann, 1989. ISBN 978-0-434-14607-9 Cotterill, R.M.J., Enchanted Looms : Conscious networks in brains and computer, Cambridge University Press, 1998. ISBN 978-0-521-79462-6. Cotterill, R.M.J., The Material World, Cambridge University Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-521-45147-5.

Published scientific articles (incomplete) Cotterill, R. M. J. (May 2001). "Cooperation of the basal ganglia, cerebellum, sensory cerebrum and hippocampus: possible implications for cognition, consciousness, intelligence and creativity". Progress in Neurobiology. 64 (1): 1–33. doi:10.1016/S0301-0082(00)00058-7. PMID 11250060. S2CID 206054149.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Rodney Cotterill

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Rodney Cotterill 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 Rodney Cotterill 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 Rodney Cotterill 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 Rodney Cotterill

In research: Rodney Cotterill 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 Rodney Cotterill 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: Rodney Cotterill is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1933 births, 2007 deaths, British consciousness researchers and theorists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Rodney Cotterill 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 Rodney Cotterill in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Rodney Cotterill in simple terms?

Why does Rodney Cotterill 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 Rodney Cotterill?

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 Rodney Cotterill.