ALBERT JOHN SWALLOW
1926 –
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Age 16 |
Age 40 |
Age 65 |
Age 83 |
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
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. Thus alcohol radicals can reduce NAD+, though it does not follow that the reaction occurs during the normal enzymic process.
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, which is nothing but
an electron surrounded by water molecules, is the ultimate aqueous free
radical. In 1973 he calculated its standard reduction potential 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? It may well be: it is not necessarily incorrect.
He calculated that every second, natural radioactivity in the oceans produces enough hydrated electrons to fill several buckets. Sunlight produces them even more effectively. But hydrated electrons react with every oxygen molecule they encounter. So no sooner are they formed than they disappear. The concentration in the oceans is infinitesimal.
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, though 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”. Perhydroxyl radicals are involved in the mechanism. Pulse radiolysis
studies revealed unexpected aspects of their reactions which are of interest
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.
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
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.
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. 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 Leckhampton House (Corpus Christi). 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 a winter home in Bangkok in a stylish serviced apartment provided with items brought across from Butley Cottage. Bangkok has excellent public transport and a car there would be an encumbrance.
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 deepened his faith. 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 become a conviction.
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
Echoing
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
In
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.
Education
King Edward’s School, Birmingham and the
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
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BSc (1st class Honours in
Chemistry) |
University of Birmingham |
1946 |
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PhD (Chemistry) |
University of Birmingham |
1949 |
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PhD (Physics and Chemistry) |
University of Cambridge (Corpus Christi
College) |
1954 |
Higher Degrees and Honours
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DSc (Chemistry) |
University of Birmingham |
1961 |
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ScD (Physics and Chemistry) |
University of Cambridge |
1971 |
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Weiss Medal |
Association for Radiation Research |
1980 |
Professional Qualification
CChem, FRSC
Appointments
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1948-1952 |
Nuffield and later ICI Fellow in Physics, University
of Birmingham |
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1952-1955 |
ICI Fellow, Department of
Radiotherapeutics, University of Cambridge |
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1955-1958 |
Research Scientist, TI Research
Laboratories, Hinxton Hall, Cambridge |
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1958-1959 |
Member of MRC Scientific Staff, Hammersmith
Hospital, London |
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1959-1962 |
Lecturer in Radiochemistry, Department of
Chemical Engineering and Chemical Technology, Imperial College, London |
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1962-1991 |
Research Scientist, Paterson Institute for
Cancer Research, Manchester |
Temporary and Part-time Appointments
Chemistry teacher, King Edward’s School,
Visiting Professor, Institute of Physical
Chemistry and Colloid Chemistry,
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
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