A. Lindsay Greer earned MA and PhD degrees at Cambridge, then undertook postdoctoral work and was Assistant Professor of Applied Physics at Harvard University before returning to a faculty position in Cambridge. He has held visiting positions at the Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble and the Centre d’Études Nucléaires de Grenoble, and was Harrison Distinguished Visiting Professor, Department of Physics and Centre for Materials Innovation, Washington University. He holds an Advisory Professorship at Chongqing University. He is an editor of Philosophical Magazine (founded in 1798, publishing papers on the structure and properties of condensed matter). He has been awarded the Pilkington Teaching Prize of the University of Cambridge, the Light Metals and Cast Shop Technology Awards of TMS (USA), the Cook-Ablett Award, the Hume Rothery Prize and the Griffith Medal of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, the ISMANAM Senior Scientist Medal, the Honda Kotaro Memorial Medal of Tohoku University, and the Lee Hsun Lecture Award of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He has published two books, more than 10 book chapters and more than 350 scientific papers.