John Watkin Humberston was an undergraduate at Manchester University and obtained his PhD from University College London. From 1965 to 1966 he taught at Trinity College Dublin and became a Lecturer at UCL in 1966, where he subsequently became Senior Lecturer and Reader. During this time he had sabbatical leave at the Goddard Space Flight Center, USA, and at York University, Toronto, Canada. Dr Humberston has written numerous research articles, published mainly in Journal of Physics B, as well as having written several review articles in Advances in Atomic and Molecular Physics and in Physics Reports.