Tony Lane came from humble beginnings to become one of the world's leading theoretical nuclear physicists. His career in the Theoretical Physics Division at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment (AERE) at Harwell was characterized by his outstanding successes in explaining experimental nuclear data. He pioneered the understanding of the important nucleon capture reactions by introducing new mechanisms of direct and semi-direct capture and, together with colleagues, he greatly advanced knowledge of nuclear analogue states, and the role of isospin in nuclear physics. With R. G. Thomas, he wrote a comprehensive review of R-matrix theory, applied to analyse resonances in nuclear reactions, which became one of the most cited papers in physics. His book
Nuclear theory
gave a good account of the use of pairing force theory in nuclear physics, and its application to nuclear collective motion.
Theσvreflection symmetry in variational R-matrix theory: Application to Rydberg and doubly-excited states of1Σ and1Σ symmetries in diatomic hydrogen