astronomy

William J. Darby

William J. Darby 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 J. Darby rather than just read about it. In short: William Jefferson Darby (November 6, 1913 – June 6, 2001) was an American nutrition scientist who spent the majority of his career at Vanderbilt University. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1972.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

William Jefferson Darby (November 6, 1913 – June 6, 2001) was an American nutrition scientist who spent the majority of his career at Vanderbilt University. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1972. He was the founding editor of the Annual Review of Nutrition.

Early life and education William Jefferson Darby was born on November 6, 1913, in Galloway, a neighborhood of North Little Rock, Arkansas. His mother was a schoolteacher. While a high school student, his chemistry teacher Ora Parks introduced him to Paul L. Day, chair of physiological chemistry at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Day later asked Parks to recommend a high school graduate who could work as an assistant in his laboratory. Darby had graduated in 1930 and was then working as a salesman at the Fuller Brush Company to earn income in the face of the Great Depression. He accepted Day's offer so that he could pursue his goal at the time of attending university and studying chemical engineering. Day encouraged Darby to enroll as a part-time student and Darby graduated from the University of Arkansas in 1936 with his bachelor's degree. One year later he received his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. He then received a master's degree in biological chemistry in 1941 from the University of Michigan under the advisorship of Howard B. Lewis; the following year he received a PhD from the University of Michigan.

Career Following his PhD, Darby moved to Nashville, Tennessee to work at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine as a Special Fellow in Nutrition in the International Health Division. He then had a one-year appointment as an assistant research professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina in its school of public health. He returned to Vanderbilt University in 1944 as an assistant professor in two departments, medicine and biochemistry. He remained at Vanderbilt until his retirement in 1979, at which point he became a professor emeritus. In 1946 he was promoted to associate professor, and in 1948 he became the director of the school of medicine's division of nutrition, remaining director until 1971. In 1972 he became the chair of the biochemistry department, and carried out his directorship and chair duties while on leave to become president of the Nutrition Foundation until 1982. He was the founding editor of the Annual Review of Nutrition in 1981, remaining in the position until 1984.

Awards and honors He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1972.

Personal life and death Darby met Elva Louise née Mayo while they attended high school together. They were both in the orchestra, where Darby played the clarinet and Mayo played violin. They married on June 12, 1935. They had three children together. He died at his home in Nashville on June 6, 2001, at the age of 87.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with William J. Darby

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what William J. Darby 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 J. Darby 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 J. Darby 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 J. Darby

In research: William J. Darby 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 J. Darby 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 J. Darby is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1913 births, 2001 deaths, American medical doctors, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for William J. Darby 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 J. Darby in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is William J. Darby in simple terms?

Why does William J. Darby 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 J. Darby?

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 J. Darby.