I was born by the coast in Sussex and studied Natural Sciences at Jesus College Cambridge specializing in chemistry in my third and final year. I obtained my PhD degree from the University of East Anglia for research into the theory of magnetic resonance. I then spent two years at the University of Bristol working on the computational implementation of a novel theory of the electronic structure of small molecules. This was followed by three and a half years in the Theoretical Chemistry department of Oxford University working with Professor Grant on those relativistic theories of electronic structure needed to understand the behaviour of atoms of high nuclear charge and their chemistry. I then returned to Cambridge and joined Fitzwilliam College as a Fellow.     

Teaching

I have been, and am continuing to teach, the following chemistry courses for both Fitzwilliam and other colleges in the University. In the first year, I can teach the entire chemistry course, always seeing all the Fitzwilliam undergraduates for all the thermodynamics and kinetics topics constituting the physical chemistry. I also regularly teach those remaining parts of the course concerned with Inorganic Chemistry and elementary theories of structure and bonding. The second year course in chemistry is divided into two parts which taken together constitute two thirds of the entire year’s work for a student specializing in chemistry. I teach entirely that half of the chemistry course concerned with the quantum mechanically based theories used to predict and understand the behaviour of atoms, molecules and solids. In the third year, when chemistry students are not studying any other science, I teach two out of the four compulsory courses, one in each of the four branches of chemistry. These two are those concerned with physical and theoretical chemistry again based on quantum mechanics. I also teach one of the specialist options in theoretical chemistry offered in the third year.

Research

My current research is concerned with understanding the structures of a variety of potentially useful materials based on nanocrystals.