astronomy

Sarah (chimpanzee)

Sarah (chimpanzee) 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 Sarah (chimpanzee) rather than just read about it. In short: Sarah (full name Sarah Anne) (August 1959 – July 2019) was an enculturated research chimpanzee whose cognitive skills were documented in the 1983 book The Mind of an Ape, by David Premack and Ann James Premack. Sarah was one of nine chimpanzees in David Premack's psychology laboratory in Pennsylvania.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Sarah (full name Sarah Anne) (August 1959 – July 2019) was an enculturated research chimpanzee whose cognitive skills were documented in the 1983 book The Mind of an Ape, by David Premack and Ann James Premack. Sarah was one of nine chimpanzees in David Premack's psychology laboratory in Pennsylvania. Sarah was born in Africa in 1959. She first worked in Missouri, then in Santa Barbara, and then Pennsylvania. She first was exposed to language token training in 1967. Sarah, along with three other chimpanzees, were exposed to language token training. One of the chimpanzees failed to learn a single word, but Sarah, Elizabeth, and Peony were able to parse and also produce streams of tokens which obeyed a grammar. She used a special board with plastic symbols to correctly parse various syntactic expressions including if-then-else. Sarah was even able to recognize colors and connect them with matching objects, a talent that Premack noted, doubting that a pigeon could have. When the Premacks decided they no longer wanted to work with chimpanzees in 1987, Sarah was sent to Sarah Boysen's Chimp Center at the Ohio State University, where she lived and worked with other enculturated chimpanzees: Kermit, Darrell, Bobby, Sheba, Keeli, Ivy, Harper, and Emma. In January 2006, Sarah attacked a student, causing minor injuries. The following month, the Chimp Center was closed and OSU sent the chimps to a private animal collection in Texas. Subsequently, the chimps were transferred to another chimpanzee sanctuary, Chimp Haven, in Louisiana. At Chimp Haven, Sarah was known for her blanket nesting techniques. Her favorite treat was M&M's. Sarah died in July 2019, just before her 60th birthday.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Sarah (chimpanzee)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Sarah (chimpanzee) 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 Sarah (chimpanzee) 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 Sarah (chimpanzee) 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 Sarah (chimpanzee)

In research: Sarah (chimpanzee) 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 Sarah (chimpanzee) 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: Sarah (chimpanzee) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1962 animal births, 2019 animal deaths, Animal communication, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Sarah (chimpanzee) 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 Sarah (chimpanzee) in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Sarah (chimpanzee) in simple terms?

Why does Sarah (chimpanzee) 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 Sarah (chimpanzee)?

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 Sarah (chimpanzee).