Biographical note

After completing his Ph.D. in transition metal chemistry at Imperial College, London, England, Geoff Rayner-Canham has spent his career mainly at the Grenfell Campus of Memorial University, Newfoundland, Canada, together with sabbatical leaves at such diverse places as the Colorado School of Mines and the University of California, Santa Cruz. Being unable to find an inorganic chemistry text which used the concepts to explain the properties and uses of the chemical elements and compounds, he, subsequently joined by Tina Overton, authored Descriptive Inorganic Chemistry. The text is now entering its sixth edition, and has been translated into Spanish, Korean, Japanese, German, Portuguese, and Khmer.

Tina Overton worked in industry and in the National Health Service whilst completing her first degree by part time study. She then completed a PhD and postdoctoral work in heterogeneous catalysis. She joined the chemistry department at the University of Hull in 1992, first as a teaching fellow, then as lecturer, senior lecturer, and then as Professor of Chemistry Education.