astronomy

Roger J. Phillips

Roger J. Phillips 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 Roger J. Phillips rather than just read about it. In short: Roger Jay Phillips (June 9, 1940 – November 19, 2020) was an American geophysicist, planetary scientist, and professor emeritus at the Washington University in St. Louis.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Roger Jay Phillips (June 9, 1940 – November 19, 2020) was an American geophysicist, planetary scientist, and professor emeritus at the Washington University in St. Louis. His research interests included the geophysical structure of planets, and the use of radar and gravity to investigate the surfaces and interiors of the planets.

Career Roger J. Phillips received his Ph.D. in 1968 from the University of California, Berkeley where he studied with Stan Ward. Following graduate school he worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. His work at JPL included being the team leader for the Apollo 17 Lunar Sounder Experiment (ALSE). Phillips then served as the Director of the Lunar and Planetary Institute before moving to Southern Methodist University, and later to Washington University in St. Louis where he served as a Professor and as Director of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences at the university. Phillips worked on several spacecraft missions such as Magellan, Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and MESSENGER. Phillips served as the editor of Geophysical Research Letters and co-edited the books the Origin of the Moon and Venus II. Phillips was a fellow of the American Geophysical Union, received the G. K. Gilbert Award from the Geological Society of America in 2003 and the Whipple Award from the American Geophysical Union in 2008

Scientific contributions Phillips' early work determined that the mascons on the Moon that perturbed the trajectory of early lunar orbiters was the result of near surface structure of impact basins and made some of the early estimates of the thickness of the crust of Mars prior to the Viking orbiters. Using the Apollo 17 Lunar Sounder Experiment data Phillips and his team collected they made the first observations of near surface variations in rock layers on the Moon. Phillips is well-known for his contributions to understanding the tectonics, impact craters and resurfacing history and the interior and crustal evolution of Venus. Phillips is also known for explaining how the growth of the massive Tharsis volcanic province on Mars shaped the entire planet and influenced the pattern of precipitation runoff on early Mars and demonstrating how the lithosphere of Mars under the north pole of the planet is not deflected by the massive polar caps. He also demonstrated that there are CO2 ice deposits within the southern polar cap of Mars.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Roger J. Phillips

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Roger J. Phillips 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 Roger J. Phillips 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 J. Phillips 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 J. Phillips

In research: Roger J. Phillips 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 Roger J. Phillips 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 J. Phillips is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1940 births, 2020 deaths, American academic journal editors, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Roger J. Phillips 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 J. Phillips in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Roger J. Phillips in simple terms?

Roger Jay Phillips (June 9, 1940 – November 19, 2020) was an American geophysicist, planetary scientist, and professor emeritus at the Washington University in St. Louis.

Why does Roger J. Phillips 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 Roger J. Phillips?

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 J. Phillips.