Autobiography
After leaving school, I spent 4 years at Queen's College, Dundee acquiring an Honours Degree in Chemistry, then was recruited by the UK Atomic Energy Authority to work at Aldermaston, where my elder brother James was already working. Although I joined expecting to spend 2 or 3 years there, I found myself retiring from the same place 42 years and 8 months later as Chief Scientist, in April 2001.
In between I enjoyed a varied career collaborating with the US labs at Los Alamos, Livermore and Sandia Albuquerque, not only developing, manufacturing and retiring nuclear weapons, but also helping to put into place the inspection regime supporting the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
In 1973, Nancy and I were married, and our two children, Angus (b.1975) and Claire (b.1978) are respectively teaching law at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and providing mathematical consultancy support and analysis with the Norwich Union in London.
From 1978-81, I was posted to our Embassy in Washington DC as Head of the Atomic Coordinating Office. On my return to Aldermaston, I undertook a series of management roles rising to Deputy Director, and finishing in the Non-Executive post of Chief Scientist charged with independent review of warhead safety issues.
Since retirement, I have been a consultant to the Sandia Labs in USA as an independent reviewer of their weapon surety department, and also Principal Adviser to the UK's Nuclear Weapon Regulator.
My main hobbies these days are making furniture of all sorts (mainly for family use) plus a bit of 'laissez faire' gardening.
Newbury, Berks, June, 2009
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