John Dainton has made leading contributions to our understanding of the fine structure of matter, through the high-energy scattering of leptons and photons off protons. His early work led to the experimental identification of partonic effects at large momentum transfer in photon–proton interactions. Subsequently, his analysis of data in terms of photon structure revealed how the latter could be beautifully interpreted in terms of QCD, the gauge theory of the strong interaction. Since 1986, he has played a leading role in the experimental physics programme of the electron–proton collider experiment, H1. As Physics Co-ordinator of H1 (1996–97), he was responsible for the publication of innovative measurements concerned with the structure of the proton, photon and their interactions at an unprecedented small scale. A seminal contribution was the development of a first understanding of hadronic interactions (the so-called ‘Reggae parametrisation’) in terms of a calculable gauge theory QCD. In 1997, he was appointed as Spokesman of the international collaboration H1, a position in which he leads the experiment and directs its scientific output.
Professional position
- Emeritus Professor of Physics, Department of Physics, University of Liverpool
- Professor of Physics, Department of Physics, Lancaster University
- Founding Director and Honorary Senior Scientist, The Cockcroft Institute
Subject groups
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Astronomy and Physics
Elementary particle physics
