Alan Windle is Professor of Materials Science at the University of Cambridge, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge and Fellow of the Royal Society. He is the author of over 200 papers on polymer structure, liquid crystal polymers and carbon nanotubes. Professor Windle holds the Bessemer and Royal Society of Arts silver medal from Imperial College and was awarded the Rosenheim Medal by the Institute of Metals in 1988 and the Swinburne Gold Medal and prize by the Plastics and Rubber Institute in 1992.