Wade Allison
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Wade Allison (born 1941) is a British physicist who is Emeritus professor of
Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
and Fellow of
Keble College Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to ...
at
Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...
. Author of ''Nuclear is for Life: A Cultural Revolution'', ''Radiation and Reason: The Impact of Science on a Culture of Fear'' '', Fundamental Physics for Probing and Imaging''


Early life

Wade Allison was educated at
Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. ...
and then at
Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...
as an Open Exhibitioner in Natural Science. He gained a First Class in Part I of the
Tripos At the University of Cambridge, a Tripos (, plural 'Triposes') is any of the examinations that qualify an undergraduate for a bachelor's degree or the courses taken by a student to prepare for these. For example, an undergraduate studying mathe ...
, before taking Part II in Physics and Part III in Mathematics in 1963. At
Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
he studied for a
DPhil A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
in Particle Physics, on the way becoming the last student permitted to operate Oxford University's thermionic valve
Ferranti Mercury The Mercury was an early commercial computer from the mid-1950s built by Ferranti. It was the successor to the Ferranti Mark 1, adding a floating point unit for improved performance, and increased reliability by replacing the Williams tube memory w ...
computer. He was elected to a Research Lecturership (JRF) at Christ Church, Oxford in 1967 and a Fellow of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851. He spent two years at the Argonne National Laboratory before returning to Oxford in 1970. In 1976 he was appointed a University Lecturer in the Physics Department at Oxford, later with the title of Professor. At the same time he was elected to a Tutorial Fellowship at
Keble College Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to ...
. He was a Visiting Professor at the
University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...
in 1995. During his career he served periods as Associate Chairman of the Oxford Physics Department, Senior Tutor and Sub-Warden of Keble College. He retired officially in 2008, since when he has continued to teach, lecture and study. He was elected to an Emeritus Fellowship at Keble College in 2010.Wade Allison.
Oxford Biomedical Imaging Network, 2011. Retrieved 14 September 2011.


Research interests

His background is in experimental Particle Physics. In earlier years he developed new experimental methods with their theory, and applied these in experiments on
quarks A quark () is a type of elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei. All commonly ...
at CERN and on
neutrinos A neutrino ( ; denoted by the Greek letter ) is a fermion (an elementary particle with spin of ) that interacts only via the weak interaction and gravity. The neutrino is so named because it is electrically neutral and because its rest mass is ...
in the USA. He made special studies on the fields of relativistic charged particles in matter including Cherenkov Radiation,
Transition radiation Transition radiation (TR) is a form of electromagnetic radiation emitted when a charged particle passes through inhomogeneous media, such as a boundary between two different media. This is in contrast to Cherenkov radiation, which occurs when a ch ...
and other mechanisms of energy loss, dEdx. As a result of initiating some years ago an optional student course on applications of nuclear physics, his interest became increasingly engaged with
medical physics Medical physics deals with the application of the concepts and methods of physics to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human diseases with a specific goal of improving human health and well-being. Since 2008, medical physics has been incl ...
, in particular safety, therapy and imaging across the full spectrum: ionizing radiation,
ultrasound Ultrasound is sound waves with frequencies higher than the upper audible limit of human hearing. Ultrasound is not different from "normal" (audible) sound in its physical properties, except that humans cannot hear it. This limit varies ...
and magnetic resonance. In 2006 he published an advanced student text book ''Fundamental Physics for Probing and Imaging''. In his second book ''Radiation and Reason'' he brought the scientific evidence of the effect of radiation to a wider audience. After the Fukushima accident this was translated into Japanese and Chinese. His third book ''Nuclear is for Life'' is a broad study that contrasts the cultural rejection of nuclear energy with the evidence, at all but the highest levels, for the harmless, and even beneficial, interaction of radiation with life.


Academic biography

* Emeritus Fellow, Keble College, Oxford (2010) * Fellow by Special Election and Senior College Lecturer, Keble College, Oxford (2008) * Visiting Professor, Dept of Physics & Astronomy, University of Minnesota (1995) * Tutorial Fellow of Keble College, Oxford (1976–2008) * University Lecturer in Physics, Oxford (1976–2008) * Research Officer, Nuclear Physics Lab., Oxford (1970–1975) * Post-doctoral appointment, Argonne National Laboratory, Illinois, USA (1968–1970) * Research Lecturer, Christchurch, Oxford (1966–1971) * Christchurch, Oxford, D Phil (1963–1968) * Trinity College, Cambridge, Open Exhibitioner, Nat. Sci. Pt I (First), Physics Pt II (Second) Maths Pt III (1959–1963)


Bibliography

;Books *''Nuclear is for Life: A Cultural Revolution''. (, December 2015) Website: http://www.nuclear4life.com *''Radiation and Reason: The Impact of Science on a Culture of Fear''. (, October 2009) Website: http://www.radiationandreason.com *''Fundamental Physics for Probing and Imaging''. (, Oxford University Press, October 2006) ;Selected articles * Wade Allison, Life and Nuclear Radiation: Chernobyl and Fukushima in Perspective, European Journal of Risk Regulation (Lexxion, Berlin) 2(2011)373 * Wade Allison, We Should Stop Running Away from Radiation, Philosophy and Technology (Springer) 24(2011)193 * WWM Allison et al., Ab initio liquid hydrogen muon cooling simulations with ELMS, J Phys G Nucl. Part. Phys. 34(2007)679–685 * G Alner, D Ayres, G Barr et al., Neutrino Oscillation Effects in Soudan-2 Physical Review D, 72 (2005), 052005 23pp * WWM Allison Calculations of energy loss and multiple scattering (ELMS) in Molecular Hydrogen J Phys G, 29 (2003), 1701–1703 * WWM Allison et al., The atmospheric neutrino flavor ratio from a 3.9 fiducial kiloton year exposure of Soudan2 Physics Letters, B 449 137 (1999) * WWM Allison An article in Experimental Techniques in High Energy Physics, ed. Ferbel, World Scientific (1991) * WWM Allison and JH Cobb, Relativistic Charged Particle Identification by Energy Loss Annual Reviews in Nuclear & Particle Science, 30 (1980), 253


References


External links

* http://www.nuclear4life.com * http://www.radiationandreason.com * http://www.keble.ox.ac.uk/academics/about/professor-w-w-m-allison * http://atomic.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/12/28/the-atomic-show-043-prof-wade-allison-the-dangers-of-radiation-safety-rules/
Scientific publications of Wade Allison
on INSPIRE-HEP {{DEFAULTSORT:Allison, Wade 1941 births Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford British physicists People associated with CERN Fellows of Keble College, Oxford Living people University of Minnesota faculty