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Alan Walsh, a chemical physicist with the Division of Industrial Chemistry. By CSIRO

Top 10 Incredible Facts about Alan Walsh(Physicist)

Sir Alan Walsh  (19 December 1916 – 3 August 1998) was a British-Australian physicist, originator, and developer of a method of chemical analysis called atomic absorption spectroscopy.

Walsh was born on 19 December 1916 and brought up in  Hoddlesden, a small village about twenty miles from  Manchester.

He was the eldest son of Thomas Haworth Walsh, cotton mill manager, and Betsy Alice (née Robinson).

Here are incredible facts about the Physicist;

1. He studied at the University of Manchester

Manchester University campus. Picture By citysuitesimages

From the age of ten Walsh attended the local grammar school in the nearby town of  Darwen, where he passed the Northern Universities Matriculation examination in 1933 and the Higher School Certificate examination in 1935.

He then went to the  University of Manchester to read physics. On graduation in 1938, he was also awarded a research scholarship, which he took up in the physics department, where he was particularly influenced by  Henry Lipson’s suggestion that he work on the structure of B-carotene.

Walsh spent one year at Manchester working on this, before moving to the physics section of the  British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association (BNF) in London, where he continued the theoretical work on the analysis. He was awarded an MSc (Tech) in 1944.

2. Walsh is probably best known for his development of atomic absorption spectroscopy 

Atomic absorption spectroscopy. Picture Courtesy of Public Domain.

Sir Alan Walsh was the originator and developer of the atomic absorption method of chemical analysis.

The method has been described as ‘the most significant advance in chemical analysis in the twentieth century. Walsh claimed this breakthrough came about when he “managed to stop being stupid long enough to see something that should have been obvious all along”.

The first spectrometer based on his design was produced in Australia during the mid-1960s by Techtron Pty. Ltd. Atomic absorption provided a quick, easy, accurate, and highly sensitive method of determining the concentrations of more than sixty-five of the elements, rendering traditional wet-chemical methods obsolete.

 The method has found important applications worldwide in areas as diverse as medicine, agriculture, mineral exploration, metallurgy, food analysis, biochemistry, the wine industry, and environmental control. 

3. He set the task of determining which metals were being used in enemy bombers 

AN ATOMIC ABSORPTION SPECTROPHOTOMETER IS USED TO DETECT METALS (SUCH AS ARSENIC). Picture By Messina,

War began on the day Walsh joined BNF. He set the task of determining which metals were being used in enemy bombers that had been shot down. The information could help establish how the German war effort was advancing.

He devised several methods for the rapid and accurate spectrographic analysis of alloys based on aluminum, copper, or zinc.

While developing the method he discovered that it could not always be transferred uniformly from one laboratory to another, so he set about devising a General Purpose Source Unit.

This generated a stable and reproducible source of discharge, essential in spectrographic emission work. He then assisted  Hilger and Watts Ltd to develop a commercial version.

4. His father managed a cotton mill

Torr Vale Mill, a cotton mill. Picture By Chris Allen,

He was the eldest son of Thomas Haworth Walsh, who managed a small family cotton mill in Hoddlesden, and Betsy Alice Walsh (nee Robinson).

The family cotton mill, Vale Rock Mill, Holden Haworth Ltd, was one of two mills that employed most of the people in Hoddlesden and many from the next town.

Alan’s father, Thomas, was an astute and remarkable man who managed the mill for 52 years, including the period during the late 1920s and 1930s when the cotton industry was badly hit by the depression. 

5. Alan began his career as Investigator in the Physics Section

In 1938, he began postgraduate research on the structure of ß-carotene in the Physics Department at the Manchester College of Technology, (which later became the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology).

He spent one year at the Manchester College of Technology and then continued the theoretical work on the analysis of β-carotene for a further period after he had moved to the Physics section of the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association in 1939.

6. Alan was duly appointed to CSIR

He was appointed to the CSIR Division of Industrial Chemistry, Melbourne, in 1946. But before leaving England, it was arranged for him to spend a period of three to four months in the laboratory of GBBM (later Sir Gordon) Sutherland in Cambridge.

This was by obtaining experience in the new field of infrared molecular spectroscopy.

During this period in Cambridge, Alan established life-long associations with two molecular spectroscopists, Donald Ramsay and Norman Sheppard, the latter of whom introduced Alan to the experimental and theoretical aspects of infrared spectroscopy. 

7. Alan set up the first operating infrared spectrometer in Australia

Sir Alan Walsh, 1916-1998, the father of atomic absorption spectroscopy at CSIR. By CSIRO

Upon commencing at CSIR Alan set about installing the new Perkin-Elmer Model 12B spectrometer. Thereby establishing his first interaction with the Perkin-Elmer Corporation.

This was the first operating infrared spectrometer in Australia. There was a steady stream of requests for service and collaborative work from organic chemists both within the Division and outside it.

Alan was particularly interested in understanding the mechanics of the technique and studying the structure of small molecules.

Together with Arthur Pulford, an MSc student from the University of Sydney, he studied the vibrational spectrum of nitrosyl chloride (NOCl) and calculated its geometry and thermodynamic properties.

8. Alan was the fourth Australian scientist to have been awarded a Royal Medal

Alan had the distinction of being only the fourth Australian scientist to have been awarded a Royal Medal. This is after Ferdinand von Mueller in 1888 and Nobel Laureates Sir Macfarlane Burnet and Sir John Eccles.

In the Silver Jubilee Queen’s Birthday Honours List in June 1977, Alan created a Knight Bachelor for ‘his distinguished service to science.

Alan’s many other honors included election to Fellowship of the Royal Society of London in 1969 and Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1969, being only the second Australian scientist (after Burnet) on whom the latter honor had been bestowed.

9. Alan worked with the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association (BNF) as a chief Spectroscopist

Walsh’s postgraduate research was interrupted by the outbreak of  World War II. In September 1939 he started work with the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association (BNF) in London.

He was to determine the composition of alloys being used in enemy bombers that had been shot down. During his time at the BNF, he devised and built a prototype of the General Purpose Source Unit (Walsh, 1946).

The prototype was a versatile but simple electrical source unit that could generate arc-like and spark-like discharges for use in spectrographic emission analysis. 

10. Alan became a formal consultant to Perkin-Elmer

In January 1977, just after his sixtieth birthday and after thirty years of service, Walsh retired from CSIRO.

About a year later he became a formal consultant to Perkin-Elmer. He had earlier participated with Perkin-Elmer in some major commercial decisions.

This included decisions to construct their own hollow-cathode lamps, manufacture a Zeeman attachment to correct for background absorption, and to manufacture the inductively coupled plasma (ICP) source.