biology

Wylie Vale

Wylie Vale is a biology 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 Vale rather than just read about it. In short: Wylie Walker Vale Jr. (July 3, 1941 – January 3, 2012) was an American endocrinologist who helped identify hormones controlling basic bodily functions.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Wylie Walker Vale Jr. (July 3, 1941 – January 3, 2012) was an American endocrinologist who helped identify hormones controlling basic bodily functions.

Early life and education Vale was born in Houston, Texas, on July 3, 1941. He completed a B.A. degree in biology at Rice University and obtained a Ph.D. in physiology and biochemistry from Baylor College of Medicine. He commenced employment at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego, California, in 1970.

Career In collaboration with his advisor and mentor Roger Guillemin, Vale contributed to the discovery, isolation and identification of thyrotropin releasing hormone and gonadotropin-releasing hormone in the 1970s; work that led to the Nobel Prize for Guillemin. At the Salk Institute, Vale led efforts in identifying the group of hormones involved in human growth, reproduction and temperature. His group discovered, isolated and identified corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRF/CRH) in 1981 and growth hormone releasing factor (GHRF) in 1982. Vale also founded two biotechnology companies, Neurocrine Biosciences and Acceleron Pharma. Vale was head of both the Clayton Foundation Laboratories for Peptide Biology and the Helen McLoraine Chair in Molecular Neurobiology at the Salk Institute. He died in 2012.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Wylie Vale

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Wylie Vale claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, 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 Vale 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 Vale 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 Vale

In research: Wylie Vale appears in biology 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 Vale 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 Vale is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1941 births, 2012 deaths, American biologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Wylie Vale 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 Vale in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Wylie Vale in simple terms?

Wylie Walker Vale Jr. (July 3, 1941 – January 3, 2012) was an American endocrinologist who helped identify hormones controlling basic bodily functions.

Why does Wylie Vale matter?

Because it connects several biology 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 Vale?

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 Vale.