Peter Atkins was educated at the University of Leicester (“Lesster”) and worked there for his PhD on electron spin resonance. He then went to the University of California, Los Angeles, and then to Oxford in 1965. He was lecturer in physical chemistry at the University of Oxford and later professor of physical chemistry until his retirement in 2007.  His research fields were theoretical chemistry and magnetic resonance, but writing books became ever more demanding, especially after the first edition of Physical chemistry was published in 1978. He is now working on the 10^th edition. He has written over 70 books, ranging from textbooks to books on science for the general public. He continues to write and to lecture all over the world, and has been a visiting professor in Israel, Japan, New Zealand, France, and China (Fudan).