scientific papers and history books/ also novels
Research Areas and Books
His work on the dynamics of quantum states/ and later research on local history in west Fife/ plus some further history and fiction
Early Publications
Early publications were on a variety of topics in molecular physics.
Thus the Ph.D. topic at Edinburgh University with Prof. Tom Cottrell
was on an absolute method of measuring infra-red absorption.
Publications from the time at the University of Pennsylvania in
Philadelphia concentrated on examining triplet state excitons in
organic crystals and glasses. At the University of East Anglia there
were two main areas. (i) The study of the dynamics of vapour phase
quantum states by a photoacoustic method. For example, the
vibrational states of methane and similar small molecules, and the
low-lying triplet states of benzene and substituted benzenes: and (ii)
the use of lifetime studies of organic molecules in micellar
environments, for example this leading on to a detailed study of
certain cell membrane properties.
A fairly rough ride: prostate cancer (still
fighting); then serious heart failure following a triple by-pass at Papworth which went a little wrong; then Parkinson’s Disease; not to mention the accumulated effect of a dozen
different medicines every day. That has to be balanced, of course, by over sixty years of a remarkably good marriage with three delightful children.
CIRCA 80
Published Works
many substantial awards for equipment and post-doctoral workers
Research Grants
On Norwich City Council when it was Unitary. Chairman Finance and on Health.
Local Council Work
From the efforts of a large number of Ph. D. and M.Sc.
students, and post-doc workers, who invariably worked
hard and provided me with really good companionship at
the same time. I thank all of them for so much of their
time. As principal author I produced around 80 papers in
the main journals.
With no particular filtering I set out below the synopses of five
papers (A) to (E), by way of giving an indication of our work.
(A)
Chemical Physics Letters
October 1973
Triplet-State Lifetime of
Vapour-Phase Benzene
T F Hunter and MG Stock
A technique based on the optic-acoustic effect has been used to measure the
triplet state lifetime of benzene over a range of pressure. The rate-constant
for the deactivation of the triplet state by collisions with ground-state
benzene is 1.1 x 10 (-13) sec (-1) cm (3) molecule (-1) which corresponds to a
collisional efficiency of 1.6 x 10 (-4) and the pressure-independent
radiationless rate-constant is approximately 1.7 x 10 (3) sec (-1). The
collisional efficiency is discussed in terms of triplet excimer formation.
(B)
Absorption and Emission
Studies of Solubilization in
Micelles
by
R C Dorrance and T F Hunter
October 1971
Pyrene in Long-chain Cationic Micelles
The monomer and excimer fluorescence of pyrene in dodecyl- and hexadecyl-
trimethylammonium bromide micelles have been studied over the temperature
range 297 to 325K. An analysis of the quantum yield changes with concentration
yields (a) values of the critical micellar concentrations, (b) the distribution of pyrene amongst the micelles, and (c) the rate of excimer formation and thus the diffusion of pyrene molecules within a micelle. The interior of the micelle appears very rigid to the pyrene molecules at low temperature, bu as the temperature increases it approaches a condition very similar to the corresponding hydrocarbons, dodecane and hexadecane. The high viscosity experienced by the pyrene molecules at low temperature is confirmed by spectroscopic parameters in absorption and emission studies.
April 2016 - Feb 2019
(C)
Photoacoustic and Thermo-
Optic Detection in
Spectroscopy and in the
Study of Relaxation Processes
by
T F Hunter and P C Turtle
Advances in IR and Raman Spectroscopy, 1980
June 2013 - Jan 2016
(D)
Photoacoustic Measurements of
Photofragmentation in CH(3)I
by
T F Hunter and K S Kristjansson
Chem. Phys. Letters, 58,1978
Photoacoustic measurements are described giving branching ratios for the I (doublet P one half) and I (doublet P three halves) atom production
following vapour-phase photolysis of CH(3)I. A range of excitation wavelengths are used from the long wavelength tail up to 248nm. The presence of three bands is shown within the ( n to (sigma)(*) ) continuum.
In the strong-coupling model only A (1)*-A(1) gives excited iodine atoms.
(E)
Chem. Phys. Letters, 1981
Bilayer Microviscosity Changes due to O (2) (singlet delta g state) Peroxidation in Lipid Vesicles
by
S J Dearden, T F Hunter and J Philp
Photooxidation by (singlet delta g state oxygen) of single-bilayer vesicles is shown to cause major changes in the microviscosity of the bilayer. Rotational fluorescence depolarisation was used to follow the changes as a function of the extent of the (singlet delta state) produced in the vesicle samples. Egg yolk lecithin (52% unsaturation), dimyristoyl and diolecyl lecithins were studied.
April 2016 - Feb 2019
Interior design Artist @ JOPDEX Arch
February 2019 until Present
As indicated above my career and political endeavours were
brought to a stop by illness including heart problems much
worsened by a very bad experience with a prescribed medicine.
In fact considerable effort was expended on legal claims before
these were given up to support innocent involved medics.
This early retirement fortunately gave time to write about the
area in Fife where I spent the first twenty years or so of my life.
Four books emerged from that intriguing subject and a
summary of each of these takes up the next section on this
website.
June 2013 - Jan 2016
(1)
Mining in West Fife
The Crossgates Area
(Fordell and Halbeath Colleries)
by
TOM HUNTER
(paperback edition 2022, pages 461, xci)
For the area of West Fife in Scotland an attempt is made to analyse the nature of the coal deposits and to give a detailed history of their exploitation over many centuries. Emphasis is on the two collieries of Fordell and Halbeath with an examination of the different economic management employed in these cases. Of historic importance is the development of waggonways from the pits down to ports on the Forth. Description is given of the conditions endured by workers and of their organisations (e.g. ‘ brotherings and the darg’) and unions which somehow gave mining communities a remarkable feeling of solidarity and self-reliance.
(2)
History of West Fife, the Crossgates Area
by
TOM HUNTER
(paperback edition 2022, pages 399, lxxxix)
The Crossgates area in West Fife is at a junction of two important roads, and an analysis of early records is made showing its development from
a smithy plus an inn to a service centre for various local activities. The increase in size of the village followed the large-scale exploitation of coal
in the neighbourhood, and this is examined in terms of street-structure, of road and rail progress, and of the social advances made over time in
this vibrant village. For example, both education and church changes over the centuries are significant areas of study.
February 2019 until Present
(3)
The Beath Names of West Fife
by
TOM HUNTER
(paperback edition 2022, pages 468, xxxv)
In West Fife in the east of Scotland there is an area which, for many centuries, has been characterised by its unusual form of place-names. This involves the ‘half’ name ‘Beath’ in conjunction with a very large number of other appellations which normally are those of associated families. This occurs elsewhere but in this location it is extremely common. Most date from the 17thC or earlier. A detailed analysis of these names is followed by a short history of the parish of Beath with particular emphasis on early church development.
April 2016 - Feb 2019
I
(4)
Sea Trade around 1600 between Fife and the Wash Ports
by
TOM HUNTER
(paperback edition 2023, 278)
In the period around 1600 there was a considerable coastal trade between England and Scotland. The Union of the Crowns was in 1603. The main route was to/from ports in Fife and those in Norfolk and the Wash area. An examination is given here of various aspects of this trade, with concentration on Kirkcaldy and King’s Lynn. Sections are included on the cargoes, on the ships, on the families involved, and on the extensive dangers experienced by the seamen of this time.
June 2013 - Jan 2016
Following the above interesting experience with local history, there were a few topics which I found data on which seemed worth recording. The first of these was a book on the surname ‘HUNTER’ which was a natural extension on a large amount of information which I managed to unearth on my own genealogical background.
There was from that study a particular ‘John Hunter’, from Edinburgh, who took my
attention with his interesting life as Consul in Spain during Napoleon’s attack.
A few books or booklets followed on a variety of topics: thus a look at newspapers to see what Scottish readers were told of the American War of Independence as it happened, in ‘News from America’, and similar. These gave way to several novels as
detailed in the last section below.
(i)
The SURNAME HUNTER
by TOM HUNTER
paperback edition, 2022
A detailed examination of the origins of the surname Hunter. This is mainly in Scotland, but also covers the name in England and regionally compares the two names Hunt and Hunter. A short look at the spread world-wide. Full analysis is given, chapter by chapter, of the families in the various Scottish counties. The second part of the book is given over to biographical examination of Hunters in a variety of fields, e.g. Medicine, Education, Religion, etc. Famous names are there with brief coverage of their lives, e.g. John Hunter in Medicine, John Hunter in Australia and so on.
(ii)
STEAM POWER
and
ROBERT BURNS
by
TOM HUNTER
published, 2022
A sketch of Burns and Patrick Miller and
Dalswinton Loch
April 2016 - Feb 2019
(iii)
Edinburgh to the De Mayo Rising
by
TOM HUNTER
published 2022
This Edinburgh boy was born in 1751, and his family and background are discussed in
colourful detail. He rose to become the British Consul-General in Spain, just as Napoleon
made his move against the Iberian Peninsula. Sir John Hunter’s famous description of the Madrid insurrection of 1808 ranks in importance with the emotional content of Goya’s
painting of this gory event. Hunter’s life is a reflection of a violent period in European
history.
June 2013 - Jan 2016
(iv)
ME and MINE
by
TOM HUNTER
published 2024
A few poems. The first noting a visit to the old shrine at Little Walsingham. The others written down in the few weeks after that visit.
(v)
News from the American War of Independence
by
TOM HUNTER
A huge amount of published work is available on the American War of Independence. However, one area given rather scant attention is that describing and analysing the public reaction in the colonial power, Britain. This little book tries to look at two aspects of this reaction: viz. (a) the extent of coverage given in a typical newspaper, and (b) the particular analysis presented to readers in Scotland.
This later question is relevant because Scotland, since the Union with England earlier in that same century (1707), had
assumed a large contribution to the military and thus to empire-building.
The method chosen is to use ‘extracts’. The year of 1779 is examined in the “Edinburgh Advertiser”. This was a serious if popular newspaper which was published every four days with some ten pages being typical.
February 2019 until Present
Three novels have been published recently, viz. the following N1, N2 and N3.
April 2016 - Feb 2019
N1
THE AMERICAN DREAM
by
TOM HUNTER
published 2022
A research scientist from the UK arrives in the USA in the nineteen sixties. His
location is at an Ivy League University with his actual employer the American
Government. With his small family he experiences the changes in settling in an
American city. By an accident at significantly high levels he becomes embroiled in
a complex scheme involving the secret machinations of American Intelligence.
His strongly left-wing views prove too much for the authorities in Washington and he is punished.
June 2013 - Jan 2016
N2
Killing for Justice
by
TOM HUNTER
published 2024
This fiction is based in industrial Scotland in late 18thC. It is centred on a murder
which occurs in unusual circumstances involving foreign ownership of coal
companies. The main character spends much time abroad in the Netherlands and
Paris experiencing rebellion and returns to Scotland which is described as in a
state of revolution. A central theme is absorbed in his relationship with his
mother, a woman rejected by society, and his romance with the daughter of a rich
estate whose family has connections with an old mysterious society of radical
persuasions. Was, and indeed is, Scotland ready for real change?
N3
ASSISTED BY JAMES
by
TOM HUNTER
published 2024
This is an analysis of an individual in his struggle with a deep belief system which takes him towards the worship of death. The manner in which he can be used by others and the way they manipulate him is the theme of this description of a subject of much present social interest.
February 2019 until Present
Opened up shop! Owner of JDW Woodworking shop
April 2016 - Feb 2019
Interior design Artist @ JOPDEX Arch
June 2013 - Jan 2016
Car tattoo artist @ FastLane Paint
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