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Dr. Eric Finch

Fellow Emeritus (Physics)
PHYSICS


Dr Finch has been a member since 1972 of the lecturing staff of the Physics Department, Trinity College Dublin - the last person to be appointed by E.T.S. Walton before he retired. He obtained both his primary Physics degree and his doctorate at Oxford University, then did postdoctoral work at Durham University in north-eastern England. His research is primarily into the detection of nuclear radiation - the physics of radiation detectors, and radioactivity in the environment. He has carried out research in laboratories in the UK, France and Germany as well as at Trinity. Publications include a jointly-authored textbook on radiation detectors. He has also worked in the area of radiological protection, and for five years was the Radiological Protection Officer for Trinity College. He has lectured to physics undergraduates on topics such as nuclear physics, radiation detection and other instrumentation, semiconductor devices, and electronics. He has also lectured on properties of matter, waves, light and sound to biology, earth sciences and pharmacy students, and on acoustics to music students. He has held overall responsibility for physics laboratory classes for first year students, and more recently for second year students. He was a College tutor for ten years. A Fellow of the Institute of Physics, he has been on several of their committees in Ireland and the UK. He is currently Chairman of the National Commission for the Teaching of Physics, attached to the Institute of Physics in Ireland. Both the Institute and the Royal Irish Academy have published articles of his on the life and work of E.T.S. Walton. Outside physics, he has sung in several chamber choirs with his wife, and has travelled with them through Europe and also to New Zealand.
  Environmental Physics   Environmental radiation   RADIATION   Radiation Biology   Radiation Physics
Language Skill Reading Skill Writing Skill Speaking
English Fluent Fluent Fluent
French Basic Basic Basic
German Basic Basic Basic
Details Date From Date To
C.Sci., C.Phys., F.Inst.P. 1986
G A Gunning, M Murray, S C Long, M J Foley and E C Finch, Inter-comparison of radon detectors for one to four week measurement periods, Journal of Radiological Protection, 36, (1), 2016, p104 - 116, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  URL
G.A. Gunning, D.A. Pollard and E.C. Finch, An outdoor radon survey and minimizing the uncertainties in low level measurements using CR-39 detectors, Journal of Radiological Protection, 34, (2), 2014, p457 - 467, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI  URL
C. Organo, E.M. Lee, G. Menezes and E.C. Finch, Investigation of occupational radiation exposures to NORM at an Irish peat-fired power station and potential use of peat fly ash by the construction industry, Journal of Radiological Protection, 25, (4), 2005, p461 - 474, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  URL
E. M. Lee, G. Menezes and E.C. Finch, Assessment of Natural Radioactivity in Irish Building Materials, IRPA 11 Abstracts, IRPA 11 - 11th International Congress of the International Radiation Protection Association, Madrid, Spain, 23rd-28th May 2004, edited by Annie Sugier , IRPA, 2004, pp234-, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED  URL
C. Organo, E.M. Lee, G. Menezes and E.C. Finch, Occupational radiation exposures to NORM at an Irish peat-fired power station and potential implications of the use of peat fly ash by the construction industry, IRPA 11 Abstracts, IRPA 11 - 11th International Congress of the International Radiation Protection Association, Madrid, Spain, 23rd-28th May 2004, edited by Annie Sugier , IRPA, 2004, pp74-, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED  URL
E.M. Lee, G. Menezes and E.C. Finch, Natural Radioactivity in Building Materials in the Republic of Ireland, Health Physics, 86, (4), 2004, p378 - 383, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  URL
Frederick Thomas Trouton, in Charles Mollan, William Davis and Brendan Finucane, Irish Innovators in Science and Technology, Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, 2002, pp192 - 192, [E.C. Finch], Item in dictionary or encyclopaedia, etc, PUBLISHED
Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton, in Charles Mollan, William Davis and Brendan Finucane, Irish Innovators in Science and Technology, Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, 2002, pp239 - 240, [E.C. Finch], Item in dictionary or encyclopaedia, etc, PUBLISHED
Eric Finch and Denis Weaire, The Long Life of an Atom Splitter (an appreciation of E.T.S. Walton), Physics World, 8, (11), 1995, p62 - 63, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
C.F.G. Delaney and E.C. Finch, Radiation Detectors, Oxford, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1992, xii + 358pp, Book, PUBLISHED
  

Eric C Finch, E.T.S. Walton - Atom Splitter and Man of Peace, Dublin Historical Record, 60, (1), 2007, p111 - 123, Journal Article, PUBLISHED