science

Rodney Needham

Rodney Needham is a science 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 Needham rather than just read about it. In short: Rodney Needham (15 May 1923 – 4 December 2006 in Oxford) was an English social anthropologist. Born Rodney Phillip Needham Green, he changed his name in 1947; the following year he married Maud Claudia (Ruth) Brysz.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Rodney Needham (15 May 1923 – 4 December 2006 in Oxford) was an English social anthropologist. Born Rodney Phillip Needham Green, he changed his name in 1947; the following year he married Maud Claudia (Ruth) Brysz. The couple would collaborate on several works, including an English translation of Robert Hertz's Death and the Right Hand. His fieldwork was with the Penan of Borneo (1951-2) and the Siwang of Malaysia (1953-5). His doctoral thesis on the Penan was accepted in 1953. He was University Lecturer in Social Anthropology, Oxford University, 1956–76; Professor of Social Anthropology, Oxford, 1976–90; Official Fellow, Merton College, Oxford, 1971–75; and Fellow, All Souls College, Oxford, 1976-90. Together with Edmund Leach and Mary Douglas, Needham brought structuralism from France and anglicised it in the process. A prolific scholar, he was also a teacher and a rediscoverer of neglected figures in the history of his discipline, such as Arnold Van Gennep and Robert Hertz. Among other things, he contributed to the study of family resemblance, introducing the terms "monothetic" and "polythetic" into anthropology. He had two children, one of whom, Tristan, became a professor of mathematics.

Bibliography 1962 Structure and sentiment 1971 Rethinking kinship and marriage 1972 Belief, language and experience 1973 Right and left. Essays on dual symbolic classification 1974 Remarks and inventions – Skeptical essays about kinship 1975 Polythetic classification: Convergence and consequences 1978 Primordial characters 1978 Essential perplexities 1979 Symbolic classification 1980 Reconnaissances, U. of Toronto Press, ISBN 0-8020-2365-7 1981 Circumstantial deliveries, Berkeley: University of California Press, ISBN 0-585-28111-4 1983 Against the tranquility of axioms 1983 Sumba and the slave trade 1985 Exemplars, Berkeley: University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-05200-5 1987 Counterpoints 1987 Mamboru, history and structure in a domain of Northwestern Sumba

References

External links Filmed in Canberra in 1979 by Timothy Asch, in conversation with James J. Fox. Obituaries: The Guardian The Telegraph The Independent The Times Full text of doctoral thesis, "The social organisation of the Penan" via Oxford Research Archive

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Rodney Needham

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Rodney Needham claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, 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 Needham 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 Needham 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 Needham

In research: Rodney Needham appears in science 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 Needham 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 Needham is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1923 births, 2006 deaths, Alumni of Merton College, Oxford, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Rodney Needham 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 Needham in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Rodney Needham in simple terms?

Why does Rodney Needham matter?

Because it connects several science 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 Needham?

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 Needham.