physics

Steven Soter

Steven Soter 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 Steven Soter rather than just read about it. In short: Steven Soter is an astrophysicist currently holding the positions of scientist-in-residence for New York University's Environmental Studies Program and of Research Associate for the Department of Astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History. He is a proponent of the International Astronomical Union's definition of planet.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Steven Soter is an astrophysicist currently holding the positions of scientist-in-residence for New York University's Environmental Studies Program and of Research Associate for the Department of Astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History. He is a proponent of the International Astronomical Union's definition of planet.

Education Soter received his bachelor's degree in astronomy and physics from UCLA in 1965 (advisors George Abell and Peter Goldreich) and his doctorate in astronomy from Cornell University in 1971 (advisors Thomas Gold, Carl Sagan, and Joseph Burns).

Career in astrophysics In 1974, Soter suggested that dust produced by meteoritic bombardment of Saturn's moon Phoebe might orbit the planet until colliding with Saturn's moon Iapetus and be responsible for the unique dark-bright dichotomy of the latter. Although not the unique cause, dust originating from Saturn's irregular satellites was later found in data from the Cassini spacecraft to indeed play a crucial role in the coloration of Iapetus. The discovery of Saturn's "Phoebe ring" in 2009 further strengthened the probability that this process first described by Soter plays a significant role in shaping Iapetus's appearance. In 1977-1979, Soter co-wrote, along with Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan, Carl Sagan's monumental 1980 astronomy documentary series Cosmos. Since then, he has also acted as advisor on a number of science documentaries, such as the IMAX films Blue Planet and Cosmic Voyage. In 1997, Soter took a position at the American Museum of Natural History's Hayden Planetarium, and eventually progressed to the position of research associate. He also made significant contributions to research related to the ancient Greek city Helike. In 2007, after the IAU voted on a definition of planet, Soter published an article in Scientific American in which he outlined a mathematical formulation, the "planetary discriminant," to describe how the IAU's requirement that a planet must have "cleared its neighborhood" of other objects might be applied in practice. He had already written a more technical article on the same subject in 2006, submitted to The Astronomical Journal before the IAU resolution. In 2014, he partnered with Druyan again to co-write a new television miniseries, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, hosted by his AMNH colleague Neil deGrasse Tyson.

References

External links Information on Steven Soter at American Museum of Natural History website Steven Soter at IMDb

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Steven Soter

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Steven Soter 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 Steven Soter 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 Steven Soter 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 Steven Soter

In research: Steven Soter 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 Steven Soter 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: Steven Soter is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1943 births, American astrophysicists, American physicist stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Steven Soter 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 Steven Soter in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Steven Soter in simple terms?

Why does Steven Soter 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 Steven Soter?

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 Steven Soter.