physics

Thomas A. O'Halloran

Thomas A. O'Halloran 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 Thomas A. O'Halloran rather than just read about it. In short: Thomas A. O'Halloran Jr.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Thomas A. O'Halloran Jr. (13 April 1931 – 28 March 2015) was an American particle physicist. Both of O'Halloran's parents were natives of County Cork. They moved from Ireland to Brooklyn, New York, where he was born on 13 April 1931. After obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in physics at Oregon State University, O'Halloran served in the United States Navy for four years, on the USS Ruddy, and stateside in Las Vegas, before earning a doctorate in physics at University of California, Berkeley. He completed his doctoral studies in 1963, advised by Gerson and Sulamith Goldhaber, then pursued postdoctoral research at Harvard University between 1964 and 1965. O'Halloran joined the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Department of Physics in 1966, as an assistant professor. He was promoted to associate professor in 1968, then full professor in 1970. In 1989, O'Halloran was invited by a former student, Pierre Sokolsky, to serve as a visiting scholar at the University of Utah. Upon retiring from the University of Illinois in 1993, O'Halloran remained affiliated with the University of Utah as a research scientist. While O'Halloran was affiliated with the University of Utah, he and his wife Barbara split their time between Salt Lake City, Utah, and Tucson, Arizona. They later moved permanently to Tucson. O'Halloran died on 28 March 2015 in Green Valley, Arizona. O'Halloran's honors and awards included fellowship of the American Physical Society (1969), and a Guggenheim Fellowship (1979).

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Thomas A. O'Halloran

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Thomas A. O'Halloran 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 Thomas A. O'Halloran 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 Thomas A. O'Halloran 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 Thomas A. O'Halloran

In research: Thomas A. O'Halloran 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 Thomas A. O'Halloran 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: Thomas A. O'Halloran is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1931 births, 2015 deaths, 20th-century American physicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Thomas A. O'Halloran 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 Thomas A. O'Halloran in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Thomas A. O'Halloran in simple terms?

Thomas A. O'Halloran Jr.

Why does Thomas A. O'Halloran 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 Thomas A. O'Halloran?

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 Thomas A. O'Halloran.