science

Rudolf Mansfeld

Rudolf Mansfeld 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 Rudolf Mansfeld rather than just read about it. In short: Rudolf Mansfeld (17 January 1901, Berlin – 1960) was a German botanist and agricultural scientist. For more than twenty years, he served as a curator at the Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum in Berlin-Dahlem, where he specialized in the study of Orchidaceae (orchids) and Euphorbiaceae (spurges).

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Rudolf Mansfeld (17 January 1901, Berlin – 1960) was a German botanist and agricultural scientist. For more than twenty years, he served as a curator at the Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum in Berlin-Dahlem, where he specialized in the study of Orchidaceae (orchids) and Euphorbiaceae (spurges). After World War II, by way of a request from agriculturalist Hans Stubbe (1902–1989), he accepted a position as a laboratory technician at the Gatersleben Institute. In 1949, he succeeded Werner Rothmaler (1908–1962) as departmental director. During his last ten years at Gatersleben, he was in charge of the department of systematics.

Works As an agricultural scientist, he developed principles for the classification of cultivated plants, and also provided a scientific basis towards the establishment and preservation of large collections of cultivated plants (gene banks). He is remembered for the encyclopedia, Verzeichnis landwirtschaftlicher und gärtnerischer Kulturpflanzen (ohne Zierpflanzen), later translated into English and published as "Mansfeld's Encyclopedia of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops". Other noted writings by Mansfeld include:

Figuren-Atlas zu den Orchideenflora der südamerikanischen Kordillerenstaaten, 1929 (with Rudolf Schlechter) - Atlas of orchids from the South American Cordillera. Figuren-Atlas zu den Orchidaceen von Deutsch-Neu-Guinea, 1929 (with Rudolf Schlechter) - Atlas of orchids from German New Guinea. Die Technik der wissenschaftlichen Pflanzenbenennung; Einführung in die Internationalen Regeln der botanischen Nomenklatur, 1949 - The technique of scientific plant names; introduction to the International Rules of Botanical Nomenclature. Vorläufiges Verzeichnis landwirtschaftlich oder gärtnerisch kultivierter Pflanzenarten, 1959 - Provisional list of agricultural/horticultural cultivated plant species.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Rudolf Mansfeld

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Rudolf Mansfeld 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 Rudolf Mansfeld 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 Rudolf Mansfeld 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 Rudolf Mansfeld

In research: Rudolf Mansfeld 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 Rudolf Mansfeld 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: Rudolf Mansfeld is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1901 births, 1960 deaths, 20th-century German agronomists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Rudolf Mansfeld 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 Rudolf Mansfeld in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Rudolf Mansfeld in simple terms?

Why does Rudolf Mansfeld 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 Rudolf Mansfeld?

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 Rudolf Mansfeld.