Dr John Wells is a retired radiation biophysicist who worked at Berkeley Nuclear Laboratories (BNL) in Gloucestershire, with a special interest in the radiation protection criteria for skin. In 1987, John was one of two UK Government-nominated advisors to the International Atomic Energy Agency for a meeting (on the acute deaths/skin damage at Chernobyl) with the Russians, and others, at the Curie Institute in Paris. In the preceding year, John had been awarded the Society for Radiological Protection Founders' Medal for his 'contributions of distinction to radiological protection'. He was one of the co-founders and the first Executive Editor of the Journal of Radiological Protection. He is a former Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, Royal Society of Biology and Society for Radiogical Protection.
John is a graduate of the universities of Warwick (BSc Physics), Salford (MSc Applied Physics) and Oxford (DPhil Clinical Medicine). Prior to university he studied at [Foxwood School] in Leeds.
John is also known for his clonal assay work at Oxford University with freshly explanted human tumour cells following their in-vitro exposure to X-rays and cytotoxic poisons, especially the [Vinca alkaloids] and their clinical administration by infusion. In the late 1970s, he also pioneered in-vitro cytogenetic studies at BNL (UK) with plucked hair follicles (including the growth of sheets of skin cells from follicles in flasks) and later discovered that hair can act as both an ionising radiation-dependent and age-dependent light guide into skin (Publications: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/John_Wells24/publications).
In parallel with his biological, radiation dosimetry research, John constructed and supplied highly radioactive beta sources (plus dosimetry) for BNL, co-initiated, university research projects with Monty Charles.
In retirement, John has a research interest in low-cost, kite aerial remote sensing, especially in the near and thermal infrared parts of the spectrum.
More recently, John returned to his original hobby of mutation plant breeding but he is now using UV light instead of 250kVp X-rays.
John and his late wife, Rosie, founded West Lothian Aerial Archaeology in 2007 which was later registered as a [Scottish Charitable Trust]:
2007 to 2012 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342481360 (Can be slow to load)
2012 to 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20181124082056/http://www.armadale.org.uk/wlat.htm
2019 to 2021 http://web.archive.org/web/20221127023232/http://www.armadale.org.uk/johnwells.htm
In 2013, The Trust was invited by Dr Axel Posluschny to join the EU's Culture Programme's ArchaeoLandscapes Europe Project, which evolved into ArchaeoLandscapes International.
Following the death of Rosie in 2013, John set up and managed the Scottish National Aerial Photography Scheme (UK & Ireland) (60 slow-to-load, image-intensive pages) in her memory.
John also has an interest in visual aids to help him and others cope with sight loss cost-effectively.