physics

Rush Holt Jr.

Rush Holt Jr. 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 Rush Holt Jr. rather than just read about it. In short: Rush Dew Holt Jr. (born October 15, 1948) is an American scientist and politician who served as the U.S. representative for New Jersey's 12th congressional district from 1999 to 2015.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Rush Dew Holt Jr. (born October 15, 1948) is an American scientist and politician who served as the U.S. representative for New Jersey's 12th congressional district from 1999 to 2015. He is a member of the Democratic Party and son of former West Virginia U.S. Senator Rush D. Holt Sr. He worked as a professor of public policy and physics, and during his tenure in Congress he was one of two physicists and the only Quaker there. Holt sought the Democratic nomination in the 2013 special primary election to fill the seat of U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg, who died in office on June 3, 2013. He lost the nomination to Newark Mayor Cory Booker. Holt announced on February 18, 2014 that he would not seek re-election to the U.S. House that year. In February 2015, Holt became chief executive officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and executive publisher of the Science family of journals. He served in that role until his retirement in September 2019.

Early life and education Holt was born in Weston, West Virginia, to Rush Holt Sr. (1905–1955), who served as a United States Senator from West Virginia (1935–1941), and his wife, Helen Froelich Holt (1913–2015), the first woman to be appointed Secretary of State of West Virginia (1957–1959). The senior Holt was the youngest person ever to be popularly elected to the U.S. Senate, at age 29. He died of cancer when Rush Jr. was six years old in 1955. In 1966, Holt graduated from Landon School in Bethesda, Maryland. In 1970, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a BS in physics from Carleton College. In 1981, he received an MS and PhD in physics from New York University. His PhD thesis was "Calcium absorption lines and solar activity: a systematic program of observations."

Academic career Holt was a faculty member at Swarthmore College from 1980 to 1988 where he taught physics, public policy, and religion courses. During that time, he also worked as a Congressional Science Fellow for U.S. Representative Bob Edgar of Pennsylvania. From 1987 until 1989, Holt headed the Nuclear and Scientific Division of the Office of Strategic Forces at the U.S. Department of State. Holt was the Assistant Director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory at Princeton University, the University's largest research facility and the largest center for energy research in New Jersey.

Scientific journal articles Holt, Rush D. (June 1995). "The interaction of researchers with teachers: What scientists can offer elementary and secondary schools". Physics of Plasmas. 2 (6): 2605. Bibcode:1995PhPl....2.2605H. doi:10.1063/1.871223.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) Holt, Rush D (October 1990). "Magnetic Fusion". Science. 250 (4979): 359. Bibcode:1990Sci...250..359H. doi:10.1126/science.250.4979.359-b. PMID 17793003. S2CID 38290534. Holt, Rush D.; Mullan, D. J. (1987). "Shifts of the CaII K line in HeI 10830 dark points". Solar Physics. 107 (1): 63–72. Bibcode:1986SoPh..107...63H. doi:10.1007/BF00155342. S2CID 118512625.

Patent 4,249,518 Method for maintaining a correct density gradient in a non-convecting solar pond

U.S. House of Representatives (1999–2015)

Elections 1996 Holt first ran for Congress in 1996 in New Jersey's 12th congressional district after incumbent Republican congressman Dick Zimmer decided to run for the U.S. Senate. On June 4, 1996, Holt lost the Democratic party primary, receiving 24% of the vote and finishing last of the three candidates. Lambertville Mayor David DelVecchio won the primary with 45% of the vote and Carl Mayer finished second with 31% of the vote. Holt received the most votes in Mercer County, while losing the other four counties in the district to DelVecchio and Mayer: DelVecchio won Monmouth, Hunterdon, and Somerset Counties while Mayer won Middlesex County. DelVecchio went on to lose the general election to Republican Michael Pappas.

1998 Holt decided to run again in 1998. On June 2, 1998, Holt won the Democratic primary, defeating Carl Mayer 64% to 36%. Holt challenged one-term Congressman Michael Pappas. The incumbent's campaign experienced a setback after he read a poem, set to the tune of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", praising Kenneth Starr on the floor of the House of Representatives. Holt defeated Pappas by 4 percentage points, 51% to 47%, becoming the first Democrat to represent the district in two decades. Holt won Mercer (61%) and Middlesex (60%) while losing Monmouth (48%), Hunterdon (37%), and Somerset (40%).

2000 Holt was challenged by former Republican Congressman Dick Zimmer in the 2000 election. Holt's prior win was thought by Republicans to be a fluke, and the race attracted considerable money and advertising. The election was hotly contested and the winner was not known on election day. Zimmer was ahead on election night by just a few votes, but Holt was ahead the next day. Ten days after the election, Holt declared himself the winner by 481 votes. Zimmer challenged the results, but conceded after the count began to go against him. Holt ultimately won the election by a margin of 651 votes: 146,162 votes for Holt (48.730%) compared to Zimmer's 145,511 (48.513%), making it the only general election where Holt did not receive a majority of the votes in the election. Holt won Mercer (61%) and Middlesex (56%) while losing Monmouth (48%), Hunterdon (35%), and Somerset (37%).

2002 Redistricting after the 2000 census made Holt's district more Democratic. It added much of Trenton while losing conservative-leaning territory in Somerset and Hunterdon counties. While Holt faced a fairly well-funded challenge from Republican Secretary of State of New Jersey Buster Soaries, Holt easily won a third term, taking 61% to Soaries' 38%. He won all five counties: Mercer (68%), Middlesex (63%), Somerset (54%), Hunterdon (54%), and Monmouth (52%).

2004 Holt won re-election to a fourth term, defeating Republican Bill Spadea 59% to 40%. He won four of five counties: Mercer (72%), Somerset (62%), Middlesex (59%), and Hunterdon (52%). He lost Monmouth (48%).

2006

He won re-election to a fifth term, defeating former Helmetta, New Jersey Council President Joseph Sinagra, 66% to 34%. He won all five counties: Mercer (77%), Somerset (67%), Middlesex (65%), Hunterdon (61%), and Monmouth (56%).

2008

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Rush Holt Jr.

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Rush Holt Jr. 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 Rush Holt Jr. 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 Rush Holt Jr. 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 Rush Holt Jr.

In research: Rush Holt Jr. 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 Rush Holt Jr. 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: Rush Holt Jr. is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1948 births, 21st-century American physicists, 21st-century United States representatives, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Rush Holt Jr. 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 Rush Holt Jr. in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Rush Holt Jr. in simple terms?

Rush Dew Holt Jr. (born October 15, 1948) is an American scientist and politician who served as the U.S. representative for New Jersey's 12th congressional district from 1999 to 2015.

Why does Rush Holt Jr. 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 Rush Holt Jr.?

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 Rush Holt Jr..