physics

Roger Clive Searle

Roger Clive Searle 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 Roger Clive Searle rather than just read about it. In short: Roger Clive Searle (born 24 October 1944 in St Ives, Huntingdonshire, died 26 November 2024, Northumberland) was an English geophysicist, known for using sonar imaging in research on the geology and geophysics of the ocean floor. In particular, he has made important contributions to understanding the oceanic spreading system and the mid-ocean spreading centres.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Roger Clive Searle (born 24 October 1944 in St Ives, Huntingdonshire, died 26 November 2024, Northumberland) was an English geophysicist, known for using sonar imaging in research on the geology and geophysics of the ocean floor. In particular, he has made important contributions to understanding the oceanic spreading system and the mid-ocean spreading centres.

Biography Searle graduated from the University of Cambridge with a B.A. (with a major in physics) in 1966 and an M.A. in 1970. He received a PhD in geophysics from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1969. From 1970 to 1973 he was an assistant professor at Haile Selassie University in Addis Ababa. At the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences in Wormsley Park, Searle was a senior science officer from 1973 to 1978; a principal science officer, civil service grade 7, from 1978 to 1988; and a senior principal science officer, civil service grade 6 (Individual Merit), from 1988 to 1989. At the University of Durham, he was a professor of geophysics from 1989 until his retirement in 2011 as professor emeritus. During his professorship he supervised eleven doctoral students. He served as department head from 1990 to 1993 and from 1998 to 2002. He was from 1982 to 1983 a visiting scientist at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography and in 2003 a guest investigator at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Searle was a marine geophysicist with an international reputation. He was the author or co-author of more than 130 peer-reviewed scientific articles. He gave invited keynote talks in 2002 in Italy, in 2002 in France and China, from 2003 to 2011 in the US and the UK, in 2008 in India, and in 2012 in China and the USA. He participated in 37 research cruises, including 18 as principal or co-principal scientist (i.e. leader or co-leader of the science team aboard the cruise). He was the principal scientist for the 1979 cruise of the RRS Discovery in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea and for the 2007 inaugural research cruise of the RRS James Cook. Searle was known as a leading pioneer in the processing and use of the GLORIA sidescan sonar system, developed in the UK. In the 1970s and the 1980s he used sidescan sonar and topographic analysis to define plate boundaries at subkilometre resolution and did research on propagating rifts and oceanic microplates (such as the Azores Microplate). Later in his career, he studied the effects of mantle hot spots on plate accretion and, with co-workers, found some of the first evidence that extreme asymmetry can occur in short-term plate accretion. He did important research on seamount morphology and origin, the geodynamics of oceanic core complexes, and ultra-slow rates in seafloor spreading. He served from 1984 to 1987 as geophysical editor for the Journal of the Geological Society of London and from 1986 to 1992 as joint editor for the journal Marine Geophysical Researches. He became a member of the British Mid-Ocean Ridge Initiative (The BRIDGE programme), funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). One of the triumphs of the BRIDGE programme was mapping the bathymetry of the Reykjanes Ridge. From 1992 to 1994 he was a member of the steering committee of BRIDGE. From 1994 to 1996 he chaired InterRidge. Searle had the support in 2003 of a Leverhulme Study Abroad Fellowship and from 2010 to 2012 a Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship. He was awarded in 2011 the Price Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society. He was elected in 2012 a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union. In September 1969 in Durham, he married Margery Joan McGuckin. They have three sons.

Selected publications

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Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Roger Clive Searle

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Roger Clive Searle 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 Roger Clive Searle 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 Roger Clive Searle 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 Roger Clive Searle

In research: Roger Clive Searle 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 Roger Clive Searle 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: Roger Clive Searle is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1944 births, Academics of Durham University, Alumni of Newcastle University, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Roger Clive Searle 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 Roger Clive Searle in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Roger Clive Searle in simple terms?

Why does Roger Clive Searle 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 Roger Clive Searle?

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 Roger Clive Searle.