A Brief CV

7/11/43	Born in Birmingham, UK
1965	B Sc (1st class) in Mathematics at Nottingham University
1968	Lecturer in Applied Mathematics at St Andrews University
1969	PhD entitled "Magnetohydrodynamic Neutral Point Theory" under T G Cowling at Leeds University
1977	Reader in Applied Mathematics at St Andrews
1983	Personal Chair in Theoretical Solar Physics at St Andrews
1985	Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
1988-91	President of International Astronomical Union's Commission on Solar Activity
1992-97	SERC/PPARC Senior Fellow
1992, 1995, 2008	Member of UK Research Assessment Exercise Applied Mathematics Panel
1994	Member of the Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters
1996-98	Convener of the Mathematics Committee of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
1997	James Gregory Professor of Mathematics at St Andrews
1998	Lindsay Memorial Lecture at Goddard Space Flight Center
1998-01	Chair of PPARC's Astronomy Committee and co-Chair of its Science Committee
2000	James Arthur prize Lecturer at Harvard University
2002	Hale Prize of the American Astronomical Society
	Fellow of the Royal Society
	Bishop Wardlaw Professor at St Andrews
2006	Rosseland Lecture at Oslo University
	Robinson Lecture at Armagh
2009	Gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society
	Payne-Gaposchkin medal and prize of the Institute of Physics
	Larmor Lecture at Belfast
2010	Retired and made an Emeritus Professor
2011	Awarded 2-year Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship

The Family at Andy & Cathy's Wedding in 2000

Clare looks after us all with great care and is a wonderful mother, wife and friend. She has lots of varied activities, including being a person-centred counsellor in Dundee:

Clare with Matt and Nim at Xmas

Clare pondering nature

Andrew (38) did a PhD in solid state physics at Oxford and then a two-year conversion course to medical physics. He is now a research medical physicist at Addenbrooks hospital, Cambridge, specialising in magnetic resonance imaging; he is married to Cathy who is a lovely lass:

Andrew and Cathy

David (33) did a degree in plant science at Glasgow University and a Ph D at York on plant biochemstry. He taught English for six months in Sri Lanka and then travelled to Spain and Peru for a year to learn Spanish and have fun. Since then he has been in East Africa doing his bit towards a "green revolution for Africa". He now works in Kenya for FIPS-Africa (Farm Input Promotions), a non-profit-making company that helps farmers grow better crops more effectively:

David (left) bumping into Jon Snow on a beach in Sri Lanka

Matthew (33) graduated at Aberdeen in plant science and worked with Voluntary Service Overseas in the Amazon rain forest in Ecuador -- in a small research station hours away from the nearest village (see the picture below). Then he did an M Sc in Conservation Management at Edinburgh, tried various conservation jobs, followed by an MA in Community Education at Edinburgh. He is now working partly as a development worker for a mental health charity and partly in a therapeutic massage practice. He and David have bought a flat in Edinburgh together:

Matthew (bottom left) in the jungle

Naomi (28) has a charming personality. She did a degree in psychology at Glasgow University, and then worked as a bar maid in a local pub in Glasgow in order to fund a year traveling round the world. She then did a two-year post-graduate diploma in speech therapy and is delighted to have a job as a speech therapist with children in Lanarkshire -- it is great to see her entering into a profession which is clearly just right for her. She and her partner Andrew Caisley have bought a flat in Edinburgh:

Naomi at the Wedding

My Family (mother, brother and sister):
I also have an incredible 95-year old mother Olive (next to me below), with an amazingly lively mind, who lives near my lovely sister June (right below) and her husband Arthur and with her daughter Natalie (husband Paul and children Jonathan and Aiden):

My mother Olive, sister June and brother Gerry:

Olive:

June, Natalie, Clare and Jonathan:

Gerry is a superb photographer as you can see from his web site

Christianity:
I am on a life-long pilgrimage and am particularly interested in relations between science and religion, for which Alan Torrance and many others have helped me run a series of "James Gregory" public lectures. I enjoy attending a local Scottish Episcopal church in St Andrews and occasionally the University College chapel, as well as a regular discussion/prayer group. I also help out on the Church of Scotland's Science Religion and Technology Committee and the Scottish Episcopal Church's Doctrine Committee

In 2000 Terry Forbes and I were delighted to give birth to a new baby in the form of a book entitled Magnetic Reconnection: MHD Theory and Applications. At present, I am again "with book" as I work hard on a complete rewrite of "Solar MHD", originally published in 1982.