Molecules That Amaze Us

Paul May is a professor of physical chemistry at the University of Bristol, where he obtained his PhD. He leads a research group that studies the fabrication of thin films of artificial diamond. He has been awarded both a Ramsay Memorial Fellowship and a Royal Society University Fellowship. He also received the RSC Higher Education teaching award for innovative use of IT in chemistry teaching. He has written nearly 200 scientific articles and currently maintains the Molecule of the Month website.

Simon Cotton is an honorary senior lecturer in the School of Chemistry at the University of Birmingham, UK. Dr. Cotton obtained his BSc and PhD at Imperial College London. His research focuses on the chemistry of transition metals, particularly iron and cobalt, as well as scandium and the lanthanides. Dr. Cotton has published various peer-reviewed articles and five books on the chemistry of the d- and f-block elements. He has written a column titled "Soundbite Molecules" for the magazine Education in Chemistry, and dozens of "Chemistry in its Element" podcasts for the RSC's Chemistry World website. In 2005 he shared the Royal Society of Chemistry Schools Education Award. His book Every Molecule Tells a Story is also published by CRC Press.