astronomy

Wylie Dufresne

Wylie Dufresne 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 Wylie Dufresne rather than just read about it. In short: Wylie Dufresne is an American chef. He was previously the owner of Du's Donuts and the former chef and owner of the wd~50 and Alder restaurants in Manhattan.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Wylie Dufresne is an American chef. He was previously the owner of Du's Donuts and the former chef and owner of the wd~50 and Alder restaurants in Manhattan. He now owns Stretch Pizza on 24th Street and Park in Manhattan. Dufresne is a leading American proponent of molecular gastronomy, the movement to incorporate science and new techniques in the preparation and presentation of food.

Early life Born in 1970 in Providence, Rhode Island, Dufresne is a graduate of Friends Seminary and The French Culinary Institute (now known as The International Culinary Center) in New York. In 1992, he completed a B.A. in philosophy at Colby College in Waterville, Maine.

Career From 1994 through 1999, he worked for Jean-Georges Vongerichten, where he was eventually named sous chef at Vongerichten's eponymous Jean Georges. In 1998 he was chef de cuisine at Vongerichten's Prime in The Bellagio, Las Vegas. In 1999, he left to become the first chef at 71 Clinton Fresh Food. In April 2003, he opened his 70-seat restaurant, wd~50 (named for the chef's initials and the street address, as well as a pun on WD-40) on Clinton Street on Manhattan's Lower East Side. In March 2013, he opened a second restaurant Alder in the East Village. wd-50 closed 30 November 2014 and Alder closed in August 2015. Dufresne was a James Beard Foundation nominee for Rising Star Chef of the Year in 2000 and chosen the same year by New York Magazine for their New York Awards. Food & Wine magazine named him one of 2001 America's Ten Best Chefs award and, in 2006, New York Magazine's Adam Platt placed wd-50 fourth in his list of New York's 101 best restaurants. He was awarded a star in Michelin's New York City Guide, 2006, 2007, and 2008, the first Red Guide for North America, and was nominated for Best Chef New York by the James Beard Foundation. His signature preparations include Pickled Beef Tongue with Fried Mayonnaise and Carrot-Coconut Sunnyside-Up. In 2006, Dufresne lost to Mario Batali on Iron Chef America. In 2007, he began making appearances as a judge on Bravo's Top Chef, which includes season 2, season 4, season 5, season 7 and season 12. He was invited to participate in Top Chef Masters in 2009, where he placed third out of four in the preliminary rounds. Dufresne also appeared in the final of the United Kingdom version of Masterchef, teaching the eventual winner. He appeared as himself in the 5th Episode of HBO's Treme alongside Tom Colicchio, Eric Ripert and David Chang. In 2013, Dufresne won the James Beard Foundation's Best NYC Chef. It was his 10th nomination and first win. Dufresne’s wd50 restaurant in New York City closed in 2014.

In April 2017, Dufresne, along with head baker Colin Kull and general manager Sharilyn Chavez, took over a pop-up space at the William Vale Hotel in Williamsburg as Du's Donuts & Coffee. The pop-up grew into a small chain that now has locations in Soho and Brooklyn. Dufresne's cookbook wd~50, was published in October 2017. Dufresne has a pizza place called Stretch on Park between 24th and 25th.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Wylie Dufresne

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Wylie Dufresne 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 Wylie Dufresne 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 Wylie Dufresne 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 Wylie Dufresne

In research: Wylie Dufresne 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 Wylie Dufresne 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: Wylie Dufresne is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1970 births, American gastronomes, American television chefs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Wylie Dufresne 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 Wylie Dufresne in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Wylie Dufresne in simple terms?

Wylie Dufresne is an American chef. He was previously the owner of Du's Donuts and the former chef and owner of the wd~50 and Alder restaurants in Manhattan.

Why does Wylie Dufresne 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 Wylie Dufresne?

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 Wylie Dufresne.