astronomy

Simon Birrell

Simon Birrell 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 Simon Birrell rather than just read about it. In short: Simon Birrell (born 26 July 1966) is a British entrepreneur, technologist and film maker. He was part of the team that invented ambient intelligence and who, with Eli Zelkha, coined the term.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Simon Birrell (born 26 July 1966) is a British entrepreneur, technologist and film maker. He was part of the team that invented ambient intelligence and who, with Eli Zelkha, coined the term.

Biography

Early life, education and career Born in 1966 in Bristol, UK. He graduated from Cambridge University in 1988 with a degree in Natural Sciences. He has been a founder or co-founder of three companies. Euro-Profile/i-Profile – a business intelligence company based out of Silicon Valley which was acquired by Virgo Capital (2008), Vemm Brazil, a publisher of consumer advice websites in Brazil which was acquired by QuinStreet (2015) and Silicon Artists, a Madrid-based entertainment technology company funded by Silicon Valley–based Tandem Computers.

Ambient intelligence In 1998, Birrell was part of the team at Palo Alto Ventures that invented and developed the ambient intelligence concept and who, with Eli Zelkha, coined the term. It was presented by Roel Pieper of Philips at The Digital Living Room Conference on 22 June 1998.

Since its invention in 1998, Ambient Intelligence labs have been formed at leading universities and ambient intelligence has become part of the core strategies of many of the world's leading technology companies, including Microsoft, Google, Amazon and IBM.

Robotics and deep learning Birrell is researching deep learning and robotics at Cambridge University. He is the author of the blog Artificial Human Companions.

Video games, virtual reality and other activities He developed some of the first video games for Richard Branson's Virgin Interactive in 1983. These included Bug Bomb – BBC Micro (1983), Microbe – BBC Micro (1983), High-Rise Horror – BBC Micro and Commodore 64 (1984), Strangeloop – Commodore 64 (1985), Shogun – Commodore 64 / Amstrad (co-design). From 1993 to 1995, Birrell was the CTO of an early virtual reality company in Spain called Realidad Virtual S.L. At Realidad Virtual, he developed Pandora – the first Spanish online virtual reality platform for the Internet.

Mundo de Estrellas (1998) was a distributed virtual reality environment for hospitalised children in Andalucia created by his company Silicon Artists.

He is also a film maker and writer. As a film maker, he has directed two shorts and collaborated with cult filmmakers Jess Franco and Jose Ramon Larraz. Birrell authored a chapter in an MIT book on Information Design and co-authored a book on videogames.

References

External links Birrell's blog

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Simon Birrell

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Simon Birrell 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 Simon Birrell 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 Simon Birrell 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 Simon Birrell

In research: Simon Birrell 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 Simon Birrell 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: Simon Birrell is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1966 births, Alumni of the University of Cambridge, Ambient intelligence, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Simon Birrell 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 Simon Birrell in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Simon Birrell in simple terms?

Simon Birrell (born 26 July 1966) is a British entrepreneur, technologist and film maker. He was part of the team that invented ambient intelligence and who, with Eli Zelkha, coined the term.

Why does Simon Birrell 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 Simon Birrell?

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 Simon Birrell.