astronomy

Seymour Hess

Seymour Hess 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 Seymour Hess rather than just read about it. In short: Seymour Lester Hess (October 27, 1920 – January 15, 1982) was an American meteorologist and planetary scientist. He was born in Brooklyn, New York.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Seymour Lester Hess (October 27, 1920 – January 15, 1982) was an American meteorologist and planetary scientist. He was born in Brooklyn, New York. After earning a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Brooklyn College, in 1943 he entered the University of Chicago as an Army Air Cadet. He completed his master's degree in 1945, then, following his release from military service as a lieutenant in the United States Army Air Forces, he became a doctoral student in the meteorology department. In 1948 he explored an interest in planetary meteorology, and spent his time at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona observing Mars. His dissertation was titled, Some Aspects of the Meteorology of Mars. On May 20, 1950, Hess had the unusual distinction of reporting a UFO sighting from Flagstaff, saying it was a bright disk cutting through clouds and "definitely was not an airplane". In 1950, he joined the newly formed meteorology department at Florida State University, where he would spend the remainder of his career and later twice served as the department chairman. Starting in 1966, he was associate dean at the University for several years. He served as head of the meteorology science team for the Viking landers, and helped design the weather instruments for the Viking 1. On July 21, 1976, he made the first ever extraterrestrial weather report, giving the atmospheric conditions at Chryse Planitia, Mars. In 1978, he received the Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professorship, the highest honor awarded by FSU. His work titled Introduction to theoretical meteorology was published in 1959; it was reprinted in 1979. He died from complications following surgery for cancer. In 1983, the Seymour Hess Memorial Symposium was held in his honor by the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics.

References

External links "Seymour Lester Hess (docteur) (1920-1981)". RR0 (in French). Retrieved 2011-07-28. Seymour Hess at Find a Grave

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Seymour Hess

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Seymour Hess 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 Seymour Hess 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 Seymour Hess 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 Seymour Hess

In research: Seymour Hess 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 Seymour Hess 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: Seymour Hess is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1920 births, 1982 deaths, American meteorologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Seymour Hess 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 Seymour Hess in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Seymour Hess in simple terms?

Seymour Lester Hess (October 27, 1920 – January 15, 1982) was an American meteorologist and planetary scientist. He was born in Brooklyn, New York.

Why does Seymour Hess 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 Seymour Hess?

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 Seymour Hess.