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
Tom Hunter
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Crossgates
Edinburgh
Philadelphia
Leicester
Norwich
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Crossgates, Fife, Scotland
Place of birth: 1938
left in 1956 to attend University.
Edinburgh
University 1956
Left in 1963
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania University 1963
Left in 1965
Leicester
1965
left in 1966
Norwich
1966 University of East Anglia
to Present day
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.
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 1.1×10(-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.
Absorption and Emission
Studies of Solubilization in
Micelles
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.
Photoacoustic and Thermo-
Optic Detection in
Spectroscopy and in the
Study of Relaxation Processes
T F Hunter and P C Turtle
Advances in IR and Raman Spectroscopy, 1980
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 ½) and I (doublet P ³⁄₂) atom production
following vapour-phase photolysis of CH3I. 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 (Σ)(*) ) continuum.
In the strong-coupling model only A (1)*-A(1) gives excited iodine atoms.
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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.
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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.
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