astronomy

William H. K. Lee

William H. K. Lee 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 H. K. Lee rather than just read about it. In short: William Hung Kang Lee (1940 – 2022) was a seismologist affiliated with the U.S. Geological Survey and an elected fellow of the American Geophysical Union.

Key takeaways

William H. K. Lee 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 H. K. Lee to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of William H. K. Lee from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

William Hung Kang Lee (1940 – 2022) was a seismologist affiliated with the U.S. Geological Survey and an elected fellow of the American Geophysical Union. He was an expert on the application of personal computers on monitoring seismic events; the "Willie Lee System" of recording seismicity on computer networks is named for him. A two-park book he edited, the International Handbook of Earthquake and Engineering Seismology (Academic Press, 2003–2003) received multiple scholarly reviews. Born during wartime in Quiping, Guangxi, China, on October 6, 1940, Lee's family fled to Macau in 1950 and Hong Kong in 1952. He attended the University of Alberta in Canada, where he received a B.S. degree in physics and geology in 1962, and later the University of California, Los Angeles, from which he attained a Ph.D. in planetary and space physics in 1967. During his life, he held several posts within the International Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth's Interior, including service on the Commission on Practice in the late 1980s, and work as chair of the Working Group on Personal Computers during the year 1989. He was also the editor of the IASPEI Software Library, published in multiple volumes from 1989 to 1993, and chairman of the Committee on Education from 1995 to 2001. He is mentioned as an important figure in the official IASPEI brochure. Lee joined the Geological Survey at Menlo Park, California, in 1967, and retired to become a scientist emeritus around 1995 or 1996. In 2006, the USGS awarded Lee the Dallas Peck Outstanding Emeritus Award. He was unanimously picked by the IASPEI Bureau to win the 2015 IASPEI Medal. He died in circa November 2022.

Notes

References

External links Response to IASPEI Medal

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with William H. K. Lee

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what William H. K. Lee 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 H. K. Lee 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 H. K. Lee 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 H. K. Lee

In research: William H. K. Lee 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 H. K. Lee 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 H. K. Lee is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1940 births, 2022 deaths, American seismologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for William H. K. Lee 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 H. K. Lee in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is William H. K. Lee in simple terms?

William Hung Kang Lee (1940 – 2022) was a seismologist affiliated with the U.S. Geological Survey and an elected fellow of the American Geophysical Union.

Why does William H. K. Lee 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 H. K. Lee?

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 H. K. Lee.