Sven E. Harnung is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Copenhagen and was Head of Department for 12 years. He teaches courses on environmental, inorganic, physical and analytical chemistry, including pharmaceutical applications. His current research concentrates on magnetic studies of single molecule magnets. He is the author of three chemistry textbooks in Danish. Dr Harnung has organized several congresses, including an International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) General Assembly. He has been a member of the Danish National Committee for Chemistry for more than 30 years and he is a Fellow of IUPAC. He has served as a board member of the journals Acta Chemica Scandinavica and Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics.