astronomy

Timothy Holland

Timothy Holland 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 Timothy Holland rather than just read about it. In short: Timothy John Barrington Holland is a British petrologist who is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge. Education Holland was educated at the University of Oxford where he was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1977 for research on eclogites in the Tauern region of the Alps supervised by Stephen W.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Timothy John Barrington Holland is a British petrologist who is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge.

Education Holland was educated at the University of Oxford where he was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1977 for research on eclogites in the Tauern region of the Alps supervised by Stephen W. Richardson.

Research and career Holland's research investigates the computation of petrological phase equilibria. His research has been funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Holland has made fundamental and enduring contributions to petrology. He was the first to show that surface rocks had been buried to over 70 km. He has worked to construct a self-consistent thermodynamic database which describes equilibria among the multi-component mineral phases important in rocks and with full propagation of errors. This work, among the most highly cited in the geosciences, now underpins most petrological research. Recent advances include the calculation of mineral assemblages and compositions as a function of composition, pressure and temperature and the thermodynamic modelling of silicate melts, critical to tectonic interpretations of deeply buried rocks.

Awards and honours Holland was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2014. He was awarded The Murchison Fund by the Geological Society of London in 1995.

References

This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Timothy Holland

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Timothy Holland 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 Timothy Holland 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 Timothy Holland 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 Timothy Holland

In research: Timothy Holland 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 Timothy Holland 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: Timothy Holland is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 21st-century British geologists, Academics of the University of Cambridge, Alumni of the University of Oxford, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Timothy Holland 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 Timothy Holland in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Timothy Holland in simple terms?

Timothy John Barrington Holland is a British petrologist who is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge. Education Holland was educated at the University of Oxford where he was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1977 for research on eclogites in t…

Why does Timothy Holland 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 Timothy Holland?

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 Timothy Holland.