astronomy

Supachai Panitchpakdi

Supachai Panitchpakdi 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 Supachai Panitchpakdi rather than just read about it. In short: Supachai Panitchpakdi (Thai: ศุภชัย พานิชภักดิ์, RTGS: Supphachai Phanitchaphak, pronounced [sùp.pʰā.t͡ɕʰāj pʰāː.nít.t͡ɕʰā.pʰák]; born 30 May 1946) is a Thai politician and professor. He was Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) from 1 September 2005 to 31 August 2013.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Supachai Panitchpakdi (Thai: ศุภชัย พานิชภักดิ์, RTGS: Supphachai Phanitchaphak, pronounced [sùp.pʰā.t͡ɕʰāj pʰāː.nít.t͡ɕʰā.pʰák]; born 30 May 1946) is a Thai politician and professor. He was Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) from 1 September 2005 to 31 August 2013. Prior to this, he was the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) from 1 September 2002 to 1 September 2005. He was succeeded by Pascal Lamy.

Education Supachai studied in primary and secondary education at Saint Gabriel's College and Triam Udom Suksa School. Then he received his master's degree in economics, development planning, and his PhD in economic planning and development at the Netherlands School of Economics (now known as Erasmus University) in Rotterdam. In 1973, he completed his doctoral dissertation under supervision of Professor Jan Tinbergen, the first Nobel laureate in economics. In the same year, he went to Cambridge University as a visiting fellow to conduct research on development models.

Political careers In 1986 Supachai Panitchpakdi was appointed as Thailand's Deputy Minister of Finance, but when parliament was dissolved in 1988 he left politics and became president of Thai Military Bank. In 1992 he returned to politics and became deputy prime minister until 1995, responsible for trade and economics. During the Asian financial crisis in November 1997 he returned to be deputy prime minister and also became minister of commerce.

World Trade Organization On 22 July 1999 he was elected to become Director-General of the World Trade Organization, sharing the post with Mike Moore when a decision could not be reached. Taking the second half of the six-year term, he entered office on 1 September 2002.

UNCTAD In March 2005 he was appointed Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) following his term at the WTO, a post he took up in late-2005. He was appointed for a second four-year term in September 2009. Keen to reform and revitalise the organisation, he has established a Panel of Eminent Persons to oversee the start of reform of UNCTAD.

Selected works He published numerous books, including Educational Growth in Developing Countries (1974), Globalization and Trade in the New Millennium (2001) and China and the WTO: Changing China, Changing World Trade (2002, co-authored with Mark Clifford).

References

External links UNCTAD – Secretary-General's Office UNCTAD – Secretary-General's Biography UNDT judgment UNDT/2012/136 Biography at WTO

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Supachai Panitchpakdi

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Supachai Panitchpakdi 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 Supachai Panitchpakdi 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 Supachai Panitchpakdi 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 Supachai Panitchpakdi

In research: Supachai Panitchpakdi 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 Supachai Panitchpakdi 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: Supachai Panitchpakdi is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1946 births, 20th-century Thai economists, 21st-century Thai economists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Supachai Panitchpakdi 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 Supachai Panitchpakdi in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Supachai Panitchpakdi in simple terms?

Why does Supachai Panitchpakdi 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 Supachai Panitchpakdi?

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 Supachai Panitchpakdi.