astronomy

Roy Gordon Grainger

Roy Gordon Grainger 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 Roy Gordon Grainger rather than just read about it. In short: Roy Gordon Grainger (born 19 February 1962) is a New Zealand physicist. He is head of the Earth Observation Data Group in the Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics Sub-Department at the University of Oxford and a Tutorial Fellow in Physics at St Hugh's College, Oxford.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Roy Gordon Grainger (born 19 February 1962) is a New Zealand physicist. He is head of the Earth Observation Data Group in the Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics Sub-Department at the University of Oxford and a Tutorial Fellow in Physics at St Hugh's College, Oxford.

Education Grainger was educated at Auckland Grammar School before attending the University of Auckland to read physics. He gained a Doctorate in Atmospheric Physics on the subject of remote sensing of cloud properties, where his supervisor was Stuart Bradley. The title of his doctoral thesis was The calculation of cloud parameters from AVHRR data. He worked for a short time in UV research at the New Zealand Meteorological Service before taking up a post-doctoral position in the Physics Department in Oxford, where his research was focused on measurement of stratospheric aerosols using the ISAMS satellite instrument designed at Oxford. In 1998, he returned to New Zealand to accept a Lectureship at the University of Canterbury, where he conducted new instrumental work to measure aerosol properties.

Research Grainger is the Principal Investigator of the Optimal Retrieval of Aerosol and Cloud (ORAC) project, which is a community code to optimally estimate aerosol and cloud properties from satellite imagery, and was principally responsible for starting this project. The Earth Observation Data Group which he heads is primarily interested in atmospheric trace gases and clouds (especially with regard to processes which control climate), and conducts satellite studies of atmospheric aerosols.

Personal life Grainger lives in Oxford, England, and is the great-grandson of Alfred Henry Grainger, after whom Grainger Falls is named.

References

External links [2] Homepage at St Hugh's College, University of Oxford [3] Homepage at the Atmospheric Physics Department, Oxford

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Roy Gordon Grainger

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Roy Gordon Grainger 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 Roy Gordon Grainger 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 Roy Gordon Grainger 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 Roy Gordon Grainger

In research: Roy Gordon Grainger 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 Roy Gordon Grainger 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: Roy Gordon Grainger is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1962 births, Academic staff of the University of Canterbury, Academics of the University of Oxford, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Roy Gordon Grainger 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 Roy Gordon Grainger in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Roy Gordon Grainger in simple terms?

Why does Roy Gordon Grainger 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 Roy Gordon Grainger?

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 Roy Gordon Grainger.