Draft:John Maxwell Bailey

John Maxwell Bailey (1935–2024) was a Particle Physicist and pioneering expert in Muon storage rings. He was the eldest child of Victor Albert Bailey, Professor of Physics at the University of Sydney and Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science; and Joyce Hewitt, a professional concert pianist from New Zealand.

During WWII due to VA's work on radio transmissions the family moved to the countryside. After they returned, John moved from a one-room schoolhouse to Sydney Boys High School. He played flute and sang in school productions preluding a lifelong love of poetry and music. He became an accomplished Chess player, winning NSW Junior Chess Champion.

John obtained a degree in Mathematics at the University of Sydney (1953-56) and did National Service in the Australian Navy. He won a Rhodes Scholarship to study Theoretical Physics at the University of Oxford (1957–1960). He travelled to England on a cargo boat and occupied the six-week voyage by becoming an excellent bridge player. Arriving at The Queen's College, Oxford (his father's alma mater), John was elected Captain of the Oxford University Chess Team. He also met his future wife Elizabeth Rippon, a fellow student from Sheffield.

Graduating with a DPhil, John was awarded a postdoctoral research position at Yale University (1960-4) before being recruited to join the team at CERN (1964-72). The Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire had started operations only ten years earlier to re-establish a collaborative centre of scientific excellence after WWII: archive video 'In the heart of CERN 1967' showcases their work of this time. John developed his expertise in sub-atomic particles, becoming a leading expert in Muon storage rings.

High energy physics at CERN relied on global co-operation. John was a skilled linguist, reading detective novels to hone his colloquial skills so he could communicate with colleagues from around the world. His subsequent work took him to many other leading edge particle accelerators including Daresbury, Brookhaven, DESY, NIKHEF and TRIUMF. During this international career John became fluent in French, German and Dutch, also conversant in Italian, Turkish and Russian.

During the 1980s John lectured at the University of Liverpool and contributed to experiments at Rutherford Laboratory. After retirement, he founded Chester Technology and used his computing expertise to install speaking software on home computers for the blind. John and Elizabeth had five daughters, two of whom followed their father and grandfather to The Queen's College, Oxford. The first, Jane F. Bailey, matriculated in 1979 amongst the first fifteen female undergraduates at the college.

John M. Bailey was involved in the planning and design of high energy particle physics experimental facilities during his time at CERN. He worked on the Muon (g-2) series on the original (g-2) experimental team led by Francis Farley alongside Emilio Picasso. In the Acknowledgements of their summary review 'The Muon (g-2) experiments at CERN' (1979), Farley and Picasso single his contribution out for particular special mention.

File:Https://www.g-2.bnl.gov/pictures/bnl84.jpg

The CERN Muon (g-2) Team in 1984

As the world's leading expert in Muon storage rings at that time, John Bailey was principal author of the Final Report on the CERN Muon Storage ring (References 68, Citations 403)

Notable papers produced by this group include:

F.J.M. Farley, J. Bailey, E. Picasso Is special theory right or wrong? Experimental verifications of the theory of relativity (1968) Nature 217 p.17-18

J. Bailey et al Precision measurement of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon (1968) Physics Letters B Vol.28 Issue 4 p.287-290]

J.M.Bailey et al Muonium II. Observation of the Muonium Hyperfine-Fine Structure Interval (1971) Physics Review A3, p.871

J. Bailey et al New measurement of (g−2) of the Muon (1975) Physics Letters B Vol.55 Issue 4 p.420-424

J. Bailey et al The anomalous magnetic moment of positive and negative muons (1977) Physics Letters B, Vol.67 Issue 2 p.225-230

J.M. Bailey et al Final Report on the CERN Muon Storage Ring (1979) Nuclear Physics B, Vol.150, p.1-75

Subsequent large-scale experimental collaborations produced many notable papers, including:

J. Bailey et al The πd scattering length from Kα X-rays (1974) Physics Letters B Vol.50 Issue 3 p.403-406

J. Bailey et al Measurements of relativistic time dilatation for positive and negative muons in a circular orbit (1977) Nature 268, p.301-305

J. Bailey et al Measurements of shadowing in low |Q2| electroproduction on nuclei (1979)] Nuclear Physics B Vol.151 p.367-388