astronomy

William Berryman Scott

William Berryman Scott 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 William Berryman Scott rather than just read about it. In short: William Berryman Scott (February 12, 1858 – March 29, 1947) was an American vertebrate paleontologist, authority on mammals, and principal author of the White River Oligocene monographs. He was a professor of geology and paleontology at Princeton University.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

William Berryman Scott (February 12, 1858 – March 29, 1947) was an American vertebrate paleontologist, authority on mammals, and principal author of the White River Oligocene monographs. He was a professor of geology and paleontology at Princeton University.

Family and education Scott was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on February 12, 1858, the son of Mary Elizabeth Hodge Scott and William McKendree Scott, a Presbyterian minister. He was the youngest of three sons; his brother Hugh Lenox Scott went on to become superintendent of West Point and Army Chief of Staff. Shortly after the family moved to Princeton, New Jersey in 1861, his father died and the family lived with his maternal grandfather who was also a Presbyterian minister and an instructor at the Princeton Theological Seminary. His early education focused on theology, philosophy and the classics in preparation for an expected career as a minister. However, when he entered Princeton University in 1873 at the age of fifteen, he became interested in science, especially geology, psychology, and chemistry. A course he took from the renowned Swiss geologist Arnold Guyot was a turning point in his career aspirations. He graduated from Princeton in 1877 and received a Ph.D. from University of Heidelberg in 1880. He married Alice Adeline Post on December 15, 1883. He was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1886.

Career Scott served as president of The Geological Society of America in 1925. He described Apataelurus kayi in 1937.

Awards Scott received numerous professional awards during his long career:

1910 Wollaston Medal from the Geological Society of London. 1930 Mary Clark Thompson Medal from the National Academy of Sciences. 1939 Penrose Medal from the Geological Society of America. 1940 Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal from the National Academy of Sciences.

Legacy The pike cichlid fish Crenicichla scottii C. H. Eigenmann, 1907 was named in his honor.

Publications Scott, William Berryman, 1858 The Osteology and Relations of Protoceras. Boston, Ginn & company, 1895. 1 p.l., [303]–374. 3 pl. (2 fold.) diagr. 26 cm. Scott, William Berryman. American Elephant Myths. Scribner's, April 1887, 469–478. Reports of the Princeton University Expeditions to Patagonia, 1896–1899 Princeton, The University, 1901–32 (v. 1, 1903) 8 v. in 13. illus. (part col.) maps (part fold., part col.) tables. 34 cm. Scott, William Berryman. Geological Climates, by W.B. Scott. Scott, William Berryman. A History of Land Mammals in the Western Hemisphere. Illustrated with 32 plates and more than 100 drawings, by Bruce Horsfall. New York, The MacMillan Company, 1913. Scott, William Berryman, The Theory of Evolution, With Special Reference to the Evidence Upon Which it is Founded. The Macmillan Company, 1920. Scott, William Berryman. Some memories of a palaeontologist. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1939. 4 p.l., 336 p. front. (port.) 24 cm.

References

Leslie, W. Bruce (1999). "Scott, William Berryman". American National Biography (ANB). Vol. 19. Oxford University Press. pp. 512–513. Simpson, G. G. (1948). "William Berryman Scott 1858–1947" (PDF). Biographical Memoirs. 25 (7). National Academy of Sciences: 175–203. Sterling, Keir B., ed. (1997). "Scott, William Berryman". Biographical Dictionary of American and Canadian Naturalists and Environmentalists. Greenwood Press. Yale Peabody Museum: History and Archives: William Berryman Scott Lefalophodon: William Berryman Scott Archived 2007-08-14 at the Wayback Machine

External links

Works by William Berryman Scott at the Biodiversity Heritage Library

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with William Berryman Scott

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what William Berryman Scott 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 William Berryman Scott 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 William Berryman Scott 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 William Berryman Scott

In research: William Berryman Scott 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 William Berryman Scott 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: William Berryman Scott is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1858 births, 1947 deaths, American paleontologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for William Berryman Scott 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 William Berryman Scott in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is William Berryman Scott in simple terms?

Why does William Berryman Scott 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 William Berryman Scott?

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 William Berryman Scott.