physics

Wilbur B. Rayton

Wilbur B. Rayton 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 Wilbur B. Rayton rather than just read about it. In short: Wilbur B. Rayton was president of the Optical Society of America from 1933–34.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Wilbur B. Rayton was president of the Optical Society of America from 1933–34. Born in 1884, Wilbur Rayton was a charter member of Optical Society of America. He spent his career as a member of the Bausch & Lomb staff but also taught at the University of Rochester's Institute of Optics from 1929–1931. In 1926, he served on a committee (along with T.R. Wilkins of the University of Rochester and Loyd A. Jones of Eastman Kodak) that outlined possible courses to be offered in the proposed new Institute of Optics. He was also active in the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, and designed cameras for that organization. In 1926, he developed a petrographic microscope. Rayton's lens design skill did much to advance astronomical observation. He specialized in designing objectives for high-speed cameras for astronomical spectrographs. In 1937 Rayton designed a lens that was described as the "world's fastest". Its speed was f:0.59—6.5 times faster than the f:1.5 lenses used in minicameras of the day. Astronomer Milton Humason used Rayton's lens to observe star clusters beyond the Milky Way Galaxy. The lens cut the time it took to make spectrographic readings of remote objects in half. When the Journal of the Optical Society of America began publication in 1917, Rayton published an article in the very first volume on reflected images in spectacle lenses. In all, he published five articles in JOSA, including one that described the needs of the criteria of optical glass for the budding U.S. optics industry. Rayton died in 1946.

See also Optical Society of America#Past Presidents of the OSA

References

External links Articles Published by early OSA Presidents Journal of the Optical Society of America

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Wilbur B. Rayton

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Wilbur B. Rayton 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 Wilbur B. Rayton 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 Wilbur B. Rayton 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 Wilbur B. Rayton

In research: Wilbur B. Rayton 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 Wilbur B. Rayton 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: Wilbur B. Rayton is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1884 births, 1946 deaths, 20th-century American physicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Wilbur B. Rayton 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.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Wilbur B. Rayton” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Wilbur B. Rayton in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Wilbur B. Rayton in simple terms?

Wilbur B. Rayton was president of the Optical Society of America from 1933–34.

Why does Wilbur B. Rayton 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 Wilbur B. Rayton?

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 Wilbur B. Rayton.