Colin Humphreys is currently Professor at Queen Mary, University of London, where his research focusses on graphene, from basic science through to manufacturable graphene devices. However, for many years his research focussed on Gallium Nitride. His work resulted in a substantially improved understanding of nitride materials. Colin pioneered the development of low-cost, high-efficiency GaN-on-silicon (or ‘GaN-on-Si’) LEDs, which are now being manufactured based on his patented research. GaN LED lighting could save the United Kingdom £2 billion per year in electricity costs.

In parallel with his scientific career, Colin has devoted considerable time and effort to communicating materials science to lay audiences. This work led to his being awarded a CBE in January 2003 for services to science as a researcher and communicator, followed by a knighthood in 2010. He was the President of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining for 2002 – 2003. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and a Member of the Academia Europaea, a Liveryman of the Goldsmiths’ Company and a Member of the Court of the Armourers and Brasiers’ Company and a Freeman of the City of London. He is a Member of the John Templeton Foundation in the USA and the Honorary President of the Canadian College for Chinese Studies in Victoria, Canada. He was President of the Physics Section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1998 – 99 and Fellow in the Public Understanding of Physics, Institute of Physics 1997 – 99. He has received medals from the Institute of Materials, the Institute of Physics, and the Royal Society of Arts, and given various Memorial Lectures throughout the world. In 2001 he was awarded an honorary D.Sc. from the University of Leicester and the European Materials Gold Medal, and in 2003 he received the Robert Franklin Mehl Gold Medal from The Materials, Minerals and Metals Society in the USA.

Colin graduated in Physics from Imperial College, London, did his Ph.D. in the Cavendish Laboratory Cambridge, was a Lecturer in the Materials Department in Oxford, then Head of Materials Engineering at Liverpool before coming back to Cambridge in 1990. His hobby is reconstructing what happened in ancient historical events using modern-day science. He has written a book The Miracles of Exodus: a Scientist Reveals the Extraordinary Natural Causes Underlying the Biblical Miracles, published by Harper Collins in the USA and Continuum in the UK in 2003, which came out in paperback in 2004. He was awarded the CBE in the New Years Honours for 2003