Gilbert Ronald Bainbridge

{{Infobox academic

|honorific_prefix =

|name = G. R. Bainbridge

|birth_name = Gilbert Ronald Bainbridge

|birth_date = {{birth date|1925|11|28|df=y}}

|birth_place = Felling, Gateshead, {{Nowrap|County Durham}}, England

|death_date = {{death date and age|2003|8|13|1925|11|28|df=y}}

|death_place = Glan Rhos Nursing Home, Anglesey, Wales

|occupation = Nuclear physicist, certified engineer, farmer

|known_for = Radiation studies, research on energy alternatives

|awards = Wolfson Professor of Energy Studies
Fellow of the Institute of Physics
Fellow of the Institution of Electrical Engineers

|alma_mater = Hatfield College of Durham University

|thesis_title = The Emission of Ionizing Radiation during a Spark Discharge

|thesis_url = http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/9231/1/9231_6162.PDF?UkUDh:CyT

|thesis_year = 1953

|doctoral_advisor = W. A. Prowse

|discipline = Physics

}}

Gilbert Ronald Bainbridge (1925–2003) was a British nuclear physicist, engineer and farmer.

Personal life and education

Gilbert Ronald Bainbridge was born 28 November 1925 at Felling, Gateshead, County Durham. He attended Jarrow County Secondary School, and matriculated at Durham University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts with honors in physics, at Hatfield College in December 1946.{{Cite web|url=http://reed.dur.ac.uk/xtf/view?docId=ark/32150_s1tx31qh77k.xml|title=Catalogue of Durham University Records: Central Administration and Officers, Deed box 6|website=reed.dur.ac.uk|access-date=8 February 2017}} His doctoral research there, on The Emission of Ionizing Radiation during a Spark Discharge, was supervised by W. A. Prowse, and in 1953 Bainbridge was awarded a PhD{{Cite web|url=http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/9231/1/9231_6162.PDF?UkUDh:CyT|title=Emission of ionising radiation during spark discharge|last=Bainbridge|first=G.R.|date=13 November 2013|website=Duham e-Theses|orig-year=1953|access-date=7 February 2017}}

In 1978, Bainbridge incorporated Cerrig Y Barcud farm in Anglesey, North Wales.{{Cite web|url=https://companycheck.co.uk/company/01380500/G-R-BAINBRIDGE-WARRINGTON-LIMITED/companies-house-data|title=G. R. Bainbridge (Warrington), Ltd. Business summary taken from official companies house information. Registered as 01380500|website=Company Check|access-date=9 February 2017}} He was also a Justice of the Peace.

He died 13 August 2003 at Glan Rhos Nursing Home, Anglesey.

Career

In 1945 he began working for the Admiralty in Greenock, and he conducted torpedo research at Faslane.

Bainbridge began lecturing in 1951 at Paisley Technical College in Glasgow, and in 1954 he began as a researcher at MacMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario in Canada. He researched light emissions from stars using mass spectrometry, funded by the United States Air Force Strategic Command.{{Citation |last1=Kerr |first1=J. T. |title=SOME NEW ATOMIC MASS DETERMINATIONS MADE WITH A LARGE SINGLE-FOCUSING MASS SPECTROMETER* |date=1959-01-01 |work=Advances in Mass Spectrometry |pages=1–9 |editor-last=Waldron |editor-first=J. D. |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780080092102500067 |access-date=2024-04-20 |publisher=Pergamon |isbn=978-0-08-009210-2 |last2=Bainbridge |first2=G. R. |last3=Dewdney |first3=J. W. |last4=Duckworth |first4=H. E.}}

He became Assistant Chief Engineer in 1957 in Warrington for the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority.{{Cite news |last1=Willding-Jones |first1=James |last2=Oswick |first2=Chris |date=1971-03-19 |title=Playtime on a nuclear Karken |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-post-merseyside-ed-playtime-on/145731305/ |access-date=2024-04-20 |work=Daily Post (Merseyside ed.) |pages=6}} Bainbridge was involved in the construction, control and development of laboratories and nuclear reactors at Aldermaston (Atomic Weapons Establishment), Berkeley nuclear power station, Calder Hall (see Sellafield), Dounreay Nuclear Power Development Establishment, Harwell (see Atomic Energy Research Establishment), Hinkley Point A nuclear power station, Oldbury nuclear power station, Tōkai mura, Trawsfynydd, Wylfa nuclear power station, Windscale (see Sellafield).

He also served as Health and Safety Executive and Representative to the British Council and Uratom. He was a Parliamentary Advisor and coordinator to the House of Lords Committee on Energy, and an Energy and Environmental consultant.

In 1972 he joined the faculty of University of Newcastle upon Tyne, where he was Director of The Energy Centre, and was named Wolfson Professor of Energy Studies.{{Cite web |date=20 April 2024 |title=Scientist Country Birth-Death |url=https://www.downloadexcelfiles.com/sites/default/files/docs/list_of_physicists_in_the_world_-2647j.pdf}} Bainbridge was also a Chartered Engineer as well as a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and a Fellow of the Institution of Electrical Engineers.

Publications

= Books =

Nuclear masses and their determination (1958){{Cite book|title=Nuclear masses and their determination|last1=Duckworth|first1=H. E.|last2=Kerr|first2=J. T.|last3=Bainbridge|first3=G. R.|publisher=Pergamon Press|year=1958|location=London}}
Energy Spectrum (1974){{Cite journal|title=Energy Spectrum|journal=Nature|volume=252|issue=5482|last=Bainbridge|first=G. R.|year=1974|pages=424|doi=10.1038/252424c0|bibcode=1974Natur.252..424B|doi-access=free}}
"Comparative risks of different fuels in electricity generation" on Environmental Impact of Nuclear Power (1981){{Cite book |last=Bainbridge |first=G. R. |title=Environmental Impact of Nuclear Power |publisher=British Nuclear Energy Society |year=1981 |isbn=978-0-7277-4433-3 |pages=1–23 |chapter=Comparative risks of different fuels in electricity generation |doi=10.1680/teionp.44333.0001}}

= Selected articles =

"Atomic Masses of Ni⁵⁸ and Ni⁶⁰" (1956){{Cite journal|last1=Eastman|first1=Philip C.|last2=Isenor|first2=Neil R.|last3=Bainbridge|first3=G. R.|last4=Duckworth|first4=Henry E.|date=1 January 1956|title=Atomic Masses of Ni58 and Ni60|journal=Physical Review|volume=103|issue=1|pages=145–146|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.103.145|quote=Department of Physics, Hamilton College, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario|bibcode=1956PhRv..103..145E}}
"The Absorption of Ultraviolet Ionizing Radiation in Gases" (1956){{Cite journal|last1=Bainbridge|first1=G. R.|last2=Prowse|first2=W. A.|date=1 October 1956|title=The Absorption of Ultraviolet Ionizing Radiation in Gases|journal=Canadian Journal of Physics|volume=34|issue=10|pages=1038–1045|doi=10.1139/p56-115|issn=0008-4204|bibcode=1956CaJPh..34.1038B}}
"The Emission of Ionizing Radiation during a Spark Discharge" (1957){{Cite journal|last1=Prowse|first1=W. A.|last2=Bainbridge|first2=G. R.|date=1 March 1957|title=The Emission of Ionizing Radiation During a Spark Discharge|journal=Canadian Journal of Physics|volume=35|issue=3|pages=324–331|doi=10.1139/p57-036|issn=0008-4204|bibcode=1957CaJPh..35..324P}}
"Fission product decay heat" (1961){{Cite web|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C3232237|title=The Discovery Service|last1=Bainbridge|first1=G. R.|last2=Grant|first2=J|date=June 1961|website=discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk|access-date=9 February 2017}}
"Advanced AGR power stations" (1964){{Cite web|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C3236252|title=Advanced AGR power stations|last1=Bainbridge|first1=G. R.|last2=Knowles|first2=A. N.|date=December 1964|website=discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk|access-date=9 February 2017|last3=Rossiter|first3=F.}}
"Nuclear fuel supply by the U.K.A.E.A." (1967){{cite book|author=G. R. Bainbridge|title=Nuclear fuel supply by the U.K.A.E.A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RYmJngEACAAJ|year=1967|publisher=H.M. Stationery Office|isbn=978-0-11-980245-0 }}
"Nuclear options" (1974){{Cite journal|last=Bainbridge|first=G. R.|year=1974|title=Nuclear Options|journal=Nature|volume=249|issue=5459|pages=733–737|doi=10.1038/249733a0|quote=Dr G. R. Bainbridge is Manager of Technical Assessments in the Reactor Group of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. At the beginning of August he takes up his appointment to the new Chair of Energy Studies in the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.|bibcode=1974Natur.249..733B}}
"Energy in the OECD" (1975){{Cite journal|last=Bainbridge|first=G. R.|year=1975|title=Energy in the OECD|journal=Nature|volume=254|issue=5502|pages=644–645|doi=10.1038/254644a0|quote=G. R. Bainbridge, Professor of Energy Studies and Director of The Energy Centre, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, reflects on the OECD report, Energy Prospects to 1985.|bibcode=1975Natur.254..644B|doi-access=free}}
"Rising to the Occasion" (1975){{Cite journal|last=Bainbridge|first=G. R.|year=1975|title=Rising to the Occasion|journal=Nature|volume=257|issue=5528|pages=723|doi=10.1038/257723a0|bibcode=1975Natur.257..723B|doi-access=free}}
"Energetic perspective" (1975){{Cite journal|last=Bainbridge|first=G. R.|year=1975|title=Energetic Perspective|journal=Nature|volume=258|issue=5537|pages=779|doi=10.1038/258779c0|bibcode=1975Natur.258..779B|doi-access=free}}
"New Power Horizons" (1976){{Cite journal|last=Bainbridge|first=G. R.|year=1976|title=New Power Horizons|journal=Nature|volume=261|issue=5555|pages=79–80|doi=10.1038/261079b0|bibcode=1976Natur.261...79B|doi-access=free}}
"Reprocessing nuclear fuel" (1978){{Cite journal|last=Bainbridge|first=G. R.|year=1978|title=Reprocessing nuclear fuel|journal=Nature|volume=272|issue=5648|pages=2|doi=10.1038/272002a0|bibcode=1978Natur.272....2B|doi-access=free}}
"Design, Construction and Proving of Low-cost 5 kW Wind-Powered Turbine for Isolated Applications" (1979){{Cite journal|last1=Watson|first1=G.R.|last2=Bainbridge|first2=G. R.|year=1979|title=Design, Construction and Proving of Low-cost 5 kW Wind-Powered Turbine for Isolated Applications|journal=International Conference on Future Energy Concepts|publisher=Institution of Electrical Engineers|pages=211}}