ALBERT JOHN SWALLOW

1926 –

Age 16	Age 40	Age 65	Age 84

John Swallow was among the pioneers of the modern form of radiation chemistry - the branch of science that deals with the chemical action of high-energy particulate and electromagnetic radiations. The subject is an offshoot of atomic energy, which literally burst upon the world in 1945 when the first atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. John’s interest was in making use of atomic energy for peaceful rather than military purposes.

research

travel

homes

faith

curriculum vitae

Research

Gamma rays are known to interact with matter to produce fast, highly energetic electrons which in the important case of aqueous solutions produce, among other things, free radicals (species with unpaired electrons) from the water. These attack the solute, yielding different radicals.

John used radiolytically-produced free radicals to test the hypothesis that a free radical reaction might be involved in the action of the enzyme which catalyzes the reaction:

CH₃CH₂OH + NAD⁺ = CH₃CHO + NADH + H⁺

To do this, he irradiated an aqueous solution containing ethanol and a small amount of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD⁺). Hydroxyl radicals from the water gave CH₃C^˙HOH radicals which were found to transfer electrons to NAD⁺, yielding NAD radicals. However the NAD radicals yielded an “unnatural” dimer rather than becoming further reduced to NADH as in the enzymic system.

The study of free radical reactions became one of the main, though by no means the only, aspects of the subject to which he and his colleagues contributed. Free radical reactions play a part, not only in the action of radiation on chemical and biological systems but also in many other processes of chemical and biological importance.

Radiation chemistry was revolutionized in the late nineteen fifties and early nineteen sixties by the invention of pulse radiolysis in Manchester and three other centres. The Manchester technique, which has been widely copied, consisted of irradiating a system with a single pulse of fast electrons so as to produce free radicals and excited states which could be observed by fast spectrophotometry before they disappear. Experiments with the Manchester apparatus were the first to show that irradiation of water produces a short-lived light-absorbing entity, later identified by others as the long-anticipated hydrated electron. John was excited to see entities whose existence had previously only been inferred indirectly, an experience which he likens to actually seeing the Statue of Liberty, after having only read about it in books.

The hydrated electron, together with the hydrogen ion, is the product of dissociation of the hydrogen atom. It is the ultimate aqueous free radical. Every second, natural radioactivity and cosmic rays produce enough hydrated electrons in the oceans to fill several buckets. Sunlight produces them even more effectively. But hydrated electrons react instantly with dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide. So no sooner are they formed than they disappear. Their abundance in the oceans is infinitesimal.

In 1973 he calculated the standard reduction potential of the hydrated electron on the hydrogen scale to be -2.9 V. He pointed out that calculations yielding different values (such as -2.75V), many made by scientists of great distinction, were flawed. So is -2.9V right? Unless future work proves otherwise, it is.

While working with free radicals and short-lived excited states, radiation chemists used to be in the habit of describing an entity as infinitely long-lived if it was stable beyond the period of observation, which could be microseconds or less. In exceptional circumstances species can last much longer. To demonstrate a “stable” radical, he prepared a semiquinone (free radical) form of riboflavin using radiation and kept it in a sealed vessel to be shown to visitors from time to time. It lasted for several years.

The Fricke dosimeter is familiar to all radiation chemists. It consists of a solution of ferrous sulphate in dilute sulphuric acid. Irradiation oxidizes ferrous ions to ferric ions, the extent of the reaction being proportional to the amount of radiation absorbed, called the “dose”. Hydroxyl and perhydroxyl radicals are involved in the mechanism. Pulse radiolysis studies revealed aspects of their reactions which are of importance for inorganic chemistry as well as for radiation chemistry.

One application of atomic energy is to irradiate food, a process which does not make the food radioactive, but can produce benefits such as increased shelf-life. Properly done, the process gives a product which is judged to be both safe and wholesome. But not everybody wants to eat irradiated food. John found that irradiation of chicken gives rise to free radicals in the bone which are sufficiently long-lived to be detected by the sensitive technique of electron spin resonance. Nobody eats chicken bones, but if irradiation were to be adopted commercially, examination of the bones could be a useful way of telling whether a sample had been irradiated or not.

Most of his colleagues had their own independent lines of research. He is grateful for their co-operation. He is also appreciative of those who encouraged him, especially in the early days. Later he was at risk of becoming over-committed to his research, on which his identity, his circle of friends and acquaintances, and of course his income depended. He succeeded in cultivating other interests and was ready to make a complete break from science by the time he retired at age 65.

Like it or not, atomic energy, peaceful and military, is here to stay. John had predicted that there would always be a need for radiation chemistry and was delighted that, some years after it had ceased to be studied at the Paterson Institute, the subject was again taken up, as he had always hoped, in Manchester.

Travel

John had an international reputation in his field and was a welcome visitor at laboratories where his subject was practised. He frequently spoke at national and international conferences in the United States, Europe, Japan, and indeed almost every part of the developed world. He was one of the first British scientists to visit Eastern Europe under an exchange agreement signed in 1962.

On Monday 5 September 1966, shortly before he was due to go to the Soviet Union for the second time, there was an unexplained incident at his home in Prestbury. On returning home that evening he found signs that his house had been entered. A fly screen on an open window had fallen to the floor. A wardrobe door, normally kept firmly shut to protect against moths, was ajar and so was a door to a cupboard where papers were stored. A locked drawer had been opened. Nothing has been stolen and there was no other sign of disorder. The police could not explain the open doors or drawer but thought the fly screen must have been dislodged by the wind. However his non-resident housekeeper, who knew his habits well, was convinced that there had been an intruder. Some time later, another policeman called at the house to review the incident but declined to investigate further when it was suggested that Secret Service activities might have been involved.

The visit to the Soviet Union went off as planned but as prominently reported in the national press, was curtailed. Unspent royalties, which were to have funded the rest of the trip, were banked as they could not be taken out of the country. He never went to the Soviet Union again. The royalties are probably still there.

Normally he spoke in English, but he was one of the few radiation chemists outside France who were prepared to lecture in French. On a couple of occasions he lectured in Spanish (South American). He spoke shamefully little German and had no more than a smattering of Russian, Italian, Portuguese or Thai.

His overseas visits were often brief - he even flew by Concorde on occasions - so they provided limited opportunities for sightseeing. Wanting to see something of the world outside science and making use of his knowledge of the French language, he came to specialize in travel to francophone West Africa, guided by the Guide du Routard books rather than Lonely Planet. One trip, to Timbuktu, which he reached long before the Lonely Planet got there, was a rehearsal for his big adventure in the winter of 1985/6, in which, aged 59, he set off on his own to cross Africa from the Mediterranean to the Gulf of Guinea using any available local transport. As always, he conformed meticulously to local visa and currency regulations. He took no photographs.

The hardest part was getting across the southern Sahara from Tamanrasset (Algeria) to Arlit (Niger). After arriving in Tamanrasset by public bus, he advertised on a camp-site notice board for a lift from anybody going across. He got no response. After a few days a Trans-Africa expedition arrived at the site. The members accepted him as an extra passenger but the expedition got no further than the customs post on the outskirts of the town as its members had not satisfied Algerian currency exchange requirements. At nightfall, with the customs post about to close, he elected to leave the expedition and spend the night on the sand in the hope of hitching a ride next morning, even though it would be expected that cars setting off to cross the desert would already be fully loaded up by that point and would be unlikely to have room for an extra passenger.

There was a truck at the customs post which was about to take sacks of grain across the desert as food aid to Niger. Through the good offices of the customs officer, the driver agreed to take him and so, wearing a cheche, Tuareg-style, he joined other passengers, all of them black Africans, comfortably resting on the sacks of grain. After an overnight stop, they reached the border.

On arrival at the border, he found a “hotel” which could best be described as a caravanserai. There, he met up with two experienced German adventurers, who were travelling on a shoestring with the intention of selling their car in Niamey to pay for a flight back to Germany. They accepted him on a paying basis and the three of them set off in convoy with an Englishman and a German girl who were travelling in a diesel-fuelled Land Rover. The route was marked with wrecked cars which hadn’t made it across. During the two-day journey the Land Rover developed a fault which the Germans helped to repair. The car ran out of petrol and had to be towed into Arlit by the Land Rover.

At Arlit he contracted further with the Germans to go on to Niamey. The excellent road, the uranium highway, went close to the border with Nigeria and the driver was able to fill the tank with smuggled petrol. Safety was non-existent: the ground was awash with petrol and onlookers were smoking cigarettes. But there was no fire, they were not robbed, and they reached Niamey without further incident (though they were robbed in Niamey). From Niamey it was easy to complete the journey to the coast through Benin (formerly Dahomey) by shared taxi and train.

After reaching the sea at Cotonou, he returned to Niamey, for most of the way in the cab of a truck together with the driver and his mate. There was no time to complete the journey overland, so he flew to Algiers and then back home.

His beard dated from that trip.

By the time he had retired he had been to more than sixty countries, some of them many times. Everywhere he went, whether to a city or to somewhere remote, he wanted to live. An island paradise in the Caribbean would have appealed for a few days, but an apartment in Manhattan or the Marais, or in the old city of Jerusalem, would have suited him better. In the end he settled for Prestbury and later made a second home in Bangkok.

Homes

An only child, he was born in Nottingham in 1926. When he was four, the family moved to Birmingham.

Homes during the depression and in wartime lacked the comforts and conveniences taken for granted today. In winter the only comfortable part of the living room was near the coal fire. Bedrooms were unheated and hot water bottles warmed the beds. Anderson or Morrison shelters provided safety during air raids. There was radio but no television. Few people had cars, and cycling was a means of transport rather than a sport.

He lived at home throughout his school years and while he was at Birmingham University. At Cambridge he lived at first in graduate residence at Corpus Christi College. Later he had a room in a farmhouse in a nearby village. His first permanent home was a flat belonging to his college. After his move to London, he continued to use the Cambridge flat at weekends, while living during the week at first in a room in Gray’s Inn and later in Imperial College accommodation in Prince’s Gardens, SW7.

On moving to Manchester he bought a cottage in Prestbury in which he lived for forty years. As a member of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings he always felt the maintenance of old buildings to be as important as the erection of new ones and his house became as much a hobby as a home. He decorated it himself, created a unique secret garden inside the house and painted a trompe l’oeil mural in the garage. He marked the exterior with a stone plaque bearing the design of a swallow. In retirement he researched the cottage’s history. Copies of his report are lodged at the Cheshire Record Office and in local libraries.

Butley Cottage was big enough for a family, but he never married. He explained his bachelorhood by reciting “An ordinary Man” from “My Fair Lady”, although he would have preferred the line “doing whatever he thinks is best for him” to be “doing whatever he thinks is best for God”. He had five Godchildren.

At one time he had splendid cars, a Triumph TR4 and later a Reliant Scimitar GT. He was a member of the British School of Motoring’s High Performance Club and remembers driving an E-type Jaguar along the M1 at 130 mph (legally) slowing down to 100 to go up the slip road. In later life cars were no more than a way of getting about and not always necessary, even then.

In retirement he got into the habit of spending winters abroad which made it difficult to maintain Butley Cottage, so he sold it without regrets and moved into a small flat in another part of the village, the Shirleys, which he furnished in minimalist fashion. He equipped the bathroom with a unique water-conserving and energy-saving system of his own design.

He set up another home in Bangkok in a stylish serviced apartment provided with items brought across from Butley Cottage and lived there during the winter months until early 2010. In October 2011 he moved into a new apartment as a Bangkok home.

Faith

Of Brethren ancestry (lapsed), he was introduced to the church by a family friend, an organist and choir master, who thought he might make a useful contribution to the choir. Those who have heard him sing will understand that this was a non-starter, but he acquired the habit of regular churchgoing and in due course was confirmed into the Church of England.

He read widely, and in his twenties took the first year of a BA course in philosophy, studying Plato’s Republic among other works. After reading religious classics and especially the Confessions of St Augustine, he had mystical experiences which gave him an insight into religious truth. He knew that the experiences would not be repeated, his mind being coarsened by living in the material world, but from that period on, his faith had been transformed. His faith became (perhaps it always was) central to his life.

His personal creed is that by the grace of God he has been predestined to eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. “By the grace of God” means that his destiny is in no way due to his own merit. Had he been born into an Islamic environment he would have been a Moslem. He does not believe that Christianity is the only tenable faith.

By predestined he means that God knows everything that has happened, is happening or will happen. Man has free will. He can choose A or B, but God knows which he will choose. By “eternal life” is meant life outside time which he would experience fully after he dies. He believes in the Second Coming which he expects to happen at the point of death

After his move to Prestbury he was made a Reader (Lay Reader) at St. Peter’s Church and subsequently Emeritus Reader (Diocese of Chester). He preached and took services at St. Peter’s Prestbury and its daughter Church of St John’s Adlington, the Church of the Resurrection Upton Priory and numerous other churches in the area.  For many years he was a member of St. Peter’s PCC and served as a Governor of Bollinbrook Cof E Primary School.

In Bangkok he became a member of Christ Church. Armed with a TESOL certificate, he taught English at the erstwhile Christ Church Language Centre. For a time he helped to maintain www.christchurchbangkok.org. Later he created and maintained www.anglicanthai.org. In 2009 he was appointed to the board of the foundation which facilitates the social aspects of Christ Church’s work.

John’s physique has never been outstanding, but he has always been blessed with good health. Towards the end, he would not wish his life to be artificially prolonged by life support should he become afflicted with a terminal illness, but would like to be allowed to proceed with all deliberate speed to the death to which he looks forward.

Curriculum Vitae

Education

King Edward’s School, Birmingham and the University of Birmingham

National Service

He served in the Home Guard between October 1943 and December 1944. During the 1960s he joined the Civil Defence Corps as a Scientific Intelligence Officer and served until the Corps was stood down in 1968.

Degrees

BSc (1^st class Honours in Chemistry)	University of Birmingham	1946
PhD (Chemistry)	University of Birmingham	1949
PhD (Physics and Chemistry)	University of Cambridge (Corpus Christi College)	1954

Higher Degrees and Honours

DSc (Chemistry)	University of Birmingham	1961
ScD (Physics and Chemistry)	University of Cambridge	1971
Weiss Medal	Association for Radiation Research	1980

Professional Qualification

CChem, FRSC

Appointments

1948-1952	Nuffield and later ICI Fellow in Physics, University of Birmingham
1952-1955	ICI Fellow, Department of Radiotherapeutics, University of Cambridge
1955-1958	Research Scientist, TI Research Laboratories, Hinxton Hall, Cambridge
1958-1959	Member of MRC Scientific Staff, Hammersmith Hospital, London
1959-1962	Lecturer in Radiochemistry, Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemical Technology, Imperial College, London
1962-1991	Research Scientist, Paterson Institute for Cancer Research, Manchester

Temporary and Part-time Appointments

Chemistry teacher, King Edward’s School, Birmingham

Visiting Professor, Institute of Physical Chemistry and Colloid Chemistry, University of Cologne

Advisor (Visiting Professor) to the Government of the Philippines on Nuclear Chemistry

Member of Editorial Board, Radiation Physics and Chemistry

Committee member, Association for Radiation Research

Chairman, 1985 Miller Conference

Member of British Committee on Radiation Units and Measurements

Member of Advisory Committee on Irradiated and Novel Foods

Member of Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes

Chairman of Grants Committee, World Cancer Research Fund

Several short-term consultancies including:

Argonne National Laboratory, USA

Nuclear Engineering Ltd

Publications

A.J.Swallow, Radiation Chemistry of Organic Compounds, Pergamon Press, 1960, Russian translation Moscow 1963, Chinese translation Shanghai 1963, 1964

A.J.Swallow, Radiation Chemistry, Longman/Wiley, 1973, Russian translation Moscow 1976, Chinese translation Beijing 1985

Author or co-author of about 200 scientific papers

Societies

The Chemical Society (Life Member)

Indian Association of Nuclear Chemists and Allied Scientists (Life Member)

Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (Life Member)

Prestbury Amenity Society (Life Member)

Consumers’ Association (Ordinary Member)

Church Mission Society (Member)

Club

British Club, Bangkok