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Roughly half of the following publications are sole authorship papers and half with one other co-author.

PhD thesis on neutron diffraction, 1970 (as Junior Research Fellow 1967-70, Shef Uni, under GEB, hence two external examiners, Prof Tebble, Salford Uni and Dr Graham Lowe, Head of Neutron Beam Science, AERE Harwell). Studies of the atomic structure and quantum chemistry of Vitamin B6 published in: Acta Crystallography B, 1980; International Journal of Quantum Chemistry, 1986 and 1989. Neutron Scattering Amplitude determination published in: Zeit.Kryst., 1968. Neutron studies of magnons in yttrium iron garnet published in: Journal of Physics C, 1977 and 1983. Studies and methodologies for determining chemical ordering, form-factors and detailed magnetic structures by neutron diffraction and neutron polarisation analysis published in: Journal of Physics F, 1971, 1973, 1979, 1981, 1982 and Crystallography Reviews, 1991.

Twenty-first century interest in spintronics has revived for example citation of a Heusler alloy paper (1971) co-authored with George Edward Bacon (1917-2011).

GEB celebration 1998

After working on radar during the war, GEB made the first neutron diffractometry measurements outside the United States. His book Neutron Diffraction (OUP) is considered the 'bible' for the subject. He mentions in the 3rd edition (1975) that "Drs W M Lomer, M W Stringfellow and J S Plant are thanked for enlightenment on various points" and the above photo includes GEB front left (no spectacles) next to WML, and a scalped JSP top left corner. This photo was taken in April 1998 at a meeting celebrating 50 years of neutron scattering – the following year, the Institute of Physics awarded GEB the gold medal for experimental physics.

Begun with GEB (1980) and completed with Harry Greenwood (1986 and 1989), our neutron diffraction studies (1980) of vitamin B6 established that it is better renamed 'pyridoxinium chloride' instead of 'pyridoxine hydrochloride' because three hydrogen nuclei (protons) surround the chlorine ion instead of just one being more closely affixed. Quantum chemical analysis (1986, 1989) detailed how different molecular proximities redistribute atomic charge through the molecules. This explains how, as the molecules come together, the experimentally measured proton proximities around the chlorine nucleus come to be stable as understood in this deeper quantum theoretical analysis.

Mostly in sole authorship [except 1973], my neutron studies of AuMn revealed much, including that its antiferromagnetic spin direction is skewed from its principal axes, a finding that seems likely to be related (though large and unexpected) to its fine martensitic twinning (1973, 1979, 1981, 1991). This was based in particular on a thereto untried NPA methodology involving net planted angles of spins, as outlined here.

JSP

As an example of the slow acceptance of sole-authorship ideas, I began my triple-axis neutron scattering studies in Australia (1970-3) that included the first magnon dispersion curve measurements in the southern hemisphere. In particular, a study of the pure physics of yig magnons, beginning in 1972, led on (when I found time amongst other demands) to two sole-authorship papers: a first paper (1977) attracted long-lasting citations, but a second less conventional one (1983) was largely ignored for 30 years with relatively few citations until 2014. A revival of interest in the second paper has come about with such relevant spintronic effects as LSSE and proof of principle for the first magnonic transistor (with potential advantages over a normal electronic one). Some recent papers still do not take full account of the more complex details of the second paper (1983).

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