physics

William Harold Joseph Childs

William Harold Joseph Childs 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 William Harold Joseph Childs rather than just read about it. In short: Prof William Harold Joseph Childs FRSE (19 January 1905 – 26 April 1983) was a British physicist and academic author. Life He was born in Bromley-by-Bow in London on 19 January 1905, the son of William and Elizabeth Jane Childs.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Prof William Harold Joseph Childs FRSE (19 January 1905 – 26 April 1983) was a British physicist and academic author.

Life He was born in Bromley-by-Bow in London on 19 January 1905, the son of William and Elizabeth Jane Childs. He was educated at East Ham Grammar School and then attended the University of London, graduating with a BSc in 1924. He continued as a postgraduate, being awarded a PhD in 1928. He then received a position on the Davy-Faraday Research Laboratory (forming part of the Royal Institution where he worked from 1931 to 1940. During the Second World War, he worked in the Armaments Research Department at the Ministry of Supply and stayed in this role until demobbed in 1947. In 1947, he received a professorship from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh and lectured in physics there until retirement in 1969. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1949, his proposers including Norman Feather and C T R Wilson. He died on 26 April 1983.

Publications Childs, William Harold Joseph (1951). Physical Constants, etc (6th ed.). London; John Wiley & Sons: New York. Childs, William Harold Joseph (1972). Physical constants: selected for students. Chapman and Hall. ISBN 9780412116209.

Family In 1934, he married Helen Simpson Gilchrist (d. 1984).

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with William Harold Joseph Childs

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what William Harold Joseph Childs 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 William Harold Joseph Childs 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 Harold Joseph Childs 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 Harold Joseph Childs

In research: William Harold Joseph Childs 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 William Harold Joseph Childs 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 Harold Joseph Childs is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1905 births, 1983 deaths, 20th-century British physicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for William Harold Joseph Childs 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 Harold Joseph Childs in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what William Harold Joseph Childs means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
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Frequently asked questions

What is William Harold Joseph Childs in simple terms?

Prof William Harold Joseph Childs FRSE (19 January 1905 – 26 April 1983) was a British physicist and academic author. Life He was born in Bromley-by-Bow in London on 19 January 1905, the son of William and Elizabeth Jane Childs.

Why does William Harold Joseph Childs 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 William Harold Joseph Childs?

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 Harold Joseph Childs.