I was born in Huddersfield, where I attended King James's Grammar
School. I then went to University College London, obtaining a BSc and
a PhD.
From 1970-78 I worked at the Meudon Observatory (France), first as a
Royal Society European Fellow and then in CNRS (the French national
research organization); I also spent one year at the ETH, Zurich
(Switzerland) as a European Space Research Organization Fellow.
Since 1978 I have worked in the Physics Department at Durham. My
research interests include atomic and molecular collision physics and
astrophysics, particularly the physics of the interstellar medium. I
have taught the following courses: atomic and nuclear physics, crystal
optics, group theory, classical mechanics, hydrodynamics, mathematical
methods, optics, molecular collisions, interstellar chemistry.
My interests include allotment gardening and cycling.
