astronomy

Ruth J. Northcott

Ruth J. Northcott 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 Ruth J. Northcott rather than just read about it. In short: Ruth Josephine Northcott (March 6, 1913 – July 29, 1969) was a Canadian astronomer based at the David Dunlap Observatory, and president of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada from 1962 to 1964. Asteroid 3670 Northcott is named for her.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Ruth Josephine Northcott (March 6, 1913 – July 29, 1969) was a Canadian astronomer based at the David Dunlap Observatory, and president of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada from 1962 to 1964. Asteroid 3670 Northcott is named for her.

Early life Ruth Josephine Northcott was born in Solina, Ontario. She attended the University of Toronto, graduating in 1934, and earning a master's degree in 1935.

Career When the David Dunlap Observatory opened in 1935, Ruth Northcott was part of the starting staff, initially as a research assistant. She later held the rank of Lecturer, and then Associate Professor of Astronomy. She was elected to membership in the International Astronomical Union in 1952, and served on the IAU's committee on the history of astronomy. She was also an active member of the American Association of Variable Star Observers, and she helped to found the Richmond Hill Naturalists. She was especially active in the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC), serving as president of the Toronto Centre during World War II, and as third woman elected president of the national society, in 1962 and 1963, and as a member of the executive committee from 1965. She was assistant editor of the Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada beginning in 1951, and became the journal's editor in 1956. She won the RASC Service Award in 1967. She was editor of RASC's The Observer's Handbook (1968), a manual for amateur astronomers, and Astronomy in Canada: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1967). Her research involved variable stars, binary stars, and spectroscopy, but she wrote on a variety of topics for the RASC journal, including "The Visibility of the Planet Mercury" (1965). "I get a great deal of pleasure and a certain degree of excitement from investigating the stars," she told a Winnipeg newspaper in 1962.

Personal life Ruth J. Northcott died in 1969, aged 56 years. Fellow astronomer Helen Sawyer Hogg was executor of Northcott's estate. Many of Northcott's papers and photographs are in the University of Toronto Archives. There is a biennial Ruth Northcott Memorial Lecture presented by RASC. Asteroid 3670 Northcott, discovered in 1983, is named for her.

References

External links Ruth J. Northcott at Find a Grave Ruth Josephine Northcott archival papers held at the University of Toronto Archives and Records Management Services

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Ruth J. Northcott

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Ruth J. Northcott 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 Ruth J. Northcott 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 Ruth J. Northcott 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 Ruth J. Northcott

In research: Ruth J. Northcott 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 Ruth J. Northcott 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: Ruth J. Northcott is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1913 births, 1969 deaths, 20th-century Canadian astronomers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Ruth J. Northcott 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 Ruth J. Northcott in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Ruth J. Northcott in simple terms?

Why does Ruth J. Northcott 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 Ruth J. Northcott?

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 Ruth J. Northcott.