From an early age I was told that I was expected to do more than continue to run a small business. Education was important and seen as a way of moving forward.

Leaving England was a painful decision, and we still have some regrets about it. However, at that time, the research environment for theoretical chemistry was clearly better in the U.S.

From an early age I was told that I was expected to do more than continue to run a small business. Education was important and seen as a way of moving forward.

I am delighted to have had students, friends and colleagues in so many nations and to have learned so much of what I know from them. This Nobel Award honours them all.

I have had many opportunities to visit universities all over the world in the past 50 years.

At the age of 12, I developed an intense interest in mathematics. On exposure to algebra, I was fascinated by simultaneous equations and read ahead of the class to the end of the book.

I was a close observer of the developments in molecular biology.