earth science

William R. Dickinson

William R. Dickinson is a earth science 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 R. Dickinson rather than just read about it. In short: William Richard Dickinson (October 26, 1931 – July 21, 2015) was a professor emeritus of geoscience at the University of Arizona and a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

William Richard Dickinson (October 26, 1931 – July 21, 2015) was a professor emeritus of geoscience at the University of Arizona and a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Dickinson was a professor at Stanford University and joined the U of A faculty in 1979.

Early life Dickinson was born near Nashville, Tennessee, on October 26, 1931, and grew up in Travellers Rest, a historic plantation house built by the slaves of his great-great-grandfather Judge John Overton in 1799. Dickinson enrolled at Stanford University in 1948, and graduated with a Bachelor's of Science in petroleum engineering in 1952 and a Ph.D in geology in 1958.

Career Dickinson was renowned for his work in plate tectonics, sedimentary geology and Pacific Oceana geology and was considered one of the foremost experts on the geology of the Colorado Plateau. Dickinson was one of the founders of the Gazzi-Dickinson Method and its primary application, QFL diagrams and their use in sandstone provenance. Dickinson's research includes studying the potsherds (historic or prehistoric fragments of pottery) of Pacific Oceana. Over the years, he visited hundreds of Pacific Islands collecting and dating sherds.

Awards 1991 - Penrose Medal by the Geological Society of America 2001 - William H. Twenhofel Medal by the Society for Sedimentary Geology 2014 - Rip Rapp Award for Archaeological Geology of the Geological Society of America

Later life In later life, Dickinson resided in Tucson, Arizona, where he continued to do research and teach at the University of Arizona. He died on July 21, 2015, while on a field expedition to Nuku'alofa, Tonga.

References

External links William Dickinson's page at the National Academy of Sciences William Dickinson at the U of A

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with William R. Dickinson

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what William R. Dickinson claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, 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 R. Dickinson 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 R. Dickinson 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 R. Dickinson

In research: William R. Dickinson appears in earth science 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 R. Dickinson 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 R. Dickinson is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1931 births, 2015 deaths, American geologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for William R. Dickinson 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.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “William R. Dickinson” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study William R. Dickinson in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is William R. Dickinson in simple terms?

William Richard Dickinson (October 26, 1931 – July 21, 2015) was a professor emeritus of geoscience at the University of Arizona and a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

Why does William R. Dickinson matter?

Because it connects several earth science 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 R. Dickinson?

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 R. Dickinson.