I completed my PhD in the Cavendish in 1982, and then moved to the University of Exeter, and returned to the Cavendish again in 1992. Mostly my work has involved optical studies of solids, with the main emphasis being on trying to understand optical excitations within the quantum-mechanical description of the system rather than solely by phenomenological macroscopic models. Scientific links with colleagues elsewhere in Europe have been of key importance, and I have benefited greatly from periods as a Visiting Scientist at various times in the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart, the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, the ETH Zurich and the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich.

In the past five years much of my time has been devoted to working with the architects and engineers on the specification and design of the new Cavendish Laboratory, a 32000 square metre teaching and research facility which the Physics Department will be moving into from 2022.