Page 2 - Visions of the Future Chemistry and Life Science

Visions of the Future: Chemistry and Life Science

Leading young scientists, m any holding prestigious Royal Society
Research Fellowships, describe their research and give their visions of the
future. The articles, which have been re-written in a popular and well-
illustrated style, are derived from scholarly and authoritative papers pub-
lished in a special Millennium Issue of the Royal Society’s Philosophical
Transactions (used by N ewton; this is the world’s longest-running scien-
t
t
tific journal). The opics, which were carefully selected by he journal’s
editor, Professor J. M. T. Thom pson FRS, include studies of atom s and m ol-
ecules in m otion; new processes and m aterials; nature’s secrets of biologi-
cal growth and form ; progress in understanding the hum an body and m ind.
The book conveys the excitem ent and enthusiasm of the young authors for
their work in chem istry and life science. Two com panion books cover
astronom y and earth science, and physics and electronics. All are defini-
tive reviews for anyone with a general interest in the future directions of
science.

M i c h a e l T h o m ps o n is currently Editor of the Royal Society’s
Philosophical Transactions (Series A). He graduated from Cam bridge with
first class honours in Mechanical Sciences in 1958, and obtained his PhD
in 1962 and his ScD in 1977. He was a Fulbright researcher in aeronautics
at Stanford University, and joined University College London (UCL) in
1964. He has published four books on instabilities, bifurcations, catastro-
t
phe heory and chaos, and was appointed professor at UCL in 1977.
Michael Thom pson was elected FRS in 1985 and was awarded the Ewing
Medal of the Institution of Civil Engineers. He was a senior SERC fellow
and served on the IMA Council. In 1991 he was appointed director of the
Centre for N onlinear Dynam ics.