astronomy

Ruben A. Stirton

Ruben A. Stirton 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 Ruben A. Stirton rather than just read about it. In short: Ruben Arthur Stirton (1901-1966), known to his friends as "Stirt", was an American paleontologist, specializing in mammals, who was active in South America, the United States and Australia. Stirton was closely associated with the University of California Museum of Paleontology, receiving an appointment as curator in 1930 and as its fourth director from 1949 to 1966.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Ruben Arthur Stirton (1901-1966), known to his friends as "Stirt", was an American paleontologist, specializing in mammals, who was active in South America, the United States and Australia. Stirton was closely associated with the University of California Museum of Paleontology, receiving an appointment as curator in 1930 and as its fourth director from 1949 to 1966. His career also saw engaged as a lecturer, associate professorship and then as a professor in 1951, from which time he was director of the University's Department of Paleontology. Stirton was born in Kansas on 20 August 1901, and graduated from the state's university in the field of zoology. He served as the mammalogist on expeditions led by Donald R. Dickey to El Salvador in the 1920s. His expeditions included a return to El Salvador in the 1940s, as well as another collecting fossils in Colombia. In 1953, he directed his studies to the marsupials of Australia, with the intent of discovering primitive species of marsupials. His publications mainly dealt with fossilized mammals from the Great Plains, particularly beavers and horses. Other contributions he made included careful and systematic descriptions of fossil specimens including an accurate determination of their geological origin, the use of animal groups to perform stratigraphic correlation, and various studies on evolutionary changes in several families of mammals. Stirton was the leading author of papers that described new taxa, including the Vombatiformes genera Rhizophascolonus and Litokoala, which were published posthumously in 1967. He died on June 14, 1966, of a heart attack, while attending a meeting of the American Society of Mammalogists in southern California. Stirton's students recall him as a popular lively lecturer, noting his rendition of the call of the Australian dingo as an example of his enthusiasm. In 1979, fellow paleontologist Patricia Vickers-Rich named the prehistoric species Dromornis stirtoni (colloquially known as Stirton's thunderbird) after this researcher, which is possibly the largest bird ever.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Ruben A. Stirton

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Ruben A. Stirton 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 Ruben A. Stirton 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 Ruben A. Stirton 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 Ruben A. Stirton

In research: Ruben A. Stirton 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 Ruben A. Stirton 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: Ruben A. Stirton is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1901 births, 1966 deaths, American paleontologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Ruben A. Stirton 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 Ruben A. Stirton in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Ruben A. Stirton in simple terms?

Why does Ruben A. Stirton 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 Ruben A. Stirton?

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 Ruben A. Stirton.