Jacob Adetunji

Jacob Adetunji was previously a Lecturer in Geoscience at the University of Derby, where he now holds a Visiting Research Fellowship.

Prior to joining the University of Derby, he was Professor and Head of the Department of Physics at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria, where he initiated and led a research group for the study of atmospheric pollution, with special interest in the Harmattan dust which blows over the area from the Sahara during the dry season.

Harmattan dust was of particular interest as Zaria is close (~1,000km) to the source of the Harmattan plume and directly under its trajectory, yet it travels far across the Earth, reaching the Atlantic and United States.

Jacob’s specialism is in the area of the Mössbauer spectroscopic study of iron-bearing synthetic and natural geological minerals and airborne particles. With funding support from the University of Derby and together with colleagues there, he has carried out studies including geochemical research of airborne inorganic particulate matter and has used the Mössbauer effect to study the atmospheric corrosion of cars.

In recent years his attention has focused on the Mössbauer spectroscopic study of chromites, minerals from the mantle section of ophiolites (sections from former oceanic crust and upper mantle exposed above sea level by geological movements).