biology

Willem van Schaik

Willem van Schaik is a biology 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 Willem van Schaik rather than just read about it. In short: Willem van Schaik (born 18 February 1975) is a Dutch microbiologist. He is professor of Microbiology and Infection at the University of Birmingham.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Willem van Schaik (born 18 February 1975) is a Dutch microbiologist. He is professor of Microbiology and Infection at the University of Birmingham.

Biography Van Schaik was born 18 February 1975 in Hasselt, Overijssel in The Netherlands. He received his M.Sc. and PhD in microbiology both with honour at Wageningen University and Research Centre. After his PhD, Van Schaik obtained a European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) long-term fellowship for a postdoctoral project at the Pasteur Institute in France, followed by a senior scientist position at Utrecht University Medical Center in the Netherlands. Since 2017, he holds the chair of Microbiology and Infection at the Institute of Microbiology and Infection at the University of Birmingham. Also in 2017, he obtained a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award. His research focuses on bacterial pathogen drug resistance, including to antibiotics. His Birmingham research group combines experimental tools in molecular biology and biochemistry with novel DNA sequencing technologies and bioinformatics.

References

External links staff profile

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Willem van Schaik

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Willem van Schaik claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, 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 Willem van Schaik 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 Willem van Schaik 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 Willem van Schaik

In research: Willem van Schaik appears in biology 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 Willem van Schaik 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: Willem van Schaik is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1975 births, 21st-century Dutch biologists, Biologists of the University of Birmingham, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Willem van Schaik 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 Willem van Schaik in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Willem van Schaik in simple terms?

Willem van Schaik (born 18 February 1975) is a Dutch microbiologist. He is professor of Microbiology and Infection at the University of Birmingham.

Why does Willem van Schaik matter?

Because it connects several biology 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 Willem van Schaik?

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 Willem van Schaik.