Try a Straight Line First - Observations On Some of John Monteith's Scientific Contributions.

The brilliance of John Monteith’s contributions came in part from his ability to “separate the wheat from the chaff”. He could turn complex problems into simple, and often solvable ones by his ability to identify controlling factors. Those who worked with him were amazed to see how often the solution to a problem was a straight line (usually after some complex analysis). Examples will be given ranging from organism development (thermal time) to animal heat budgets. Even the well known Penman-Monteith equation uses a straight line. Computers have increased our ability to complicate models, but increased understanding of nature will likely come only as we minimize complexity in our models, as John did.