Neil Withers

I joined Chemistry World in June 2012 after spending four years as an associate editor on Nature Chemistry.

This is my second stint at the Royal Society of Chemistry, having started work here in July 2004 just a week after my PhD viva! I worked in a variety of roles in my first four years at the RSC, from a technical editor on Journals of Materials Chemistry and Soft Matter to editor of Chemical Technology.

I commission and edit the features in Chemistry World, and contribute to the other areas of the magazine as need arises. I have a PhD in solid-state inorganic chemistry from the University of Durham, where I also did a four-year chemistry degree.

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Opinion
Good enough at last
2019-10-10T15:05:00
Neil Withers reflects on the 2019 Nobel prize in chemistry, awarded for developing lithium-ion batteries
Article
The data behind the Nobel prizes
2019-10-07T11:11:00
We’ve looked at over 100 years of data behind who and what wins the Nobel prize
Opinion
Don’t be sniffy about sewage – or concrete
2019-09-27T09:28:00
Do you flush and forget? Time to make a stink about concrete’s emissions
Opinion
(When) will we go to the moon again?
2019-07-31T09:33:00
Will people follow in the footsteps of the Apollo astronauts any time soon?
News
The Cambridge Structural Database hits one million structures
2019-06-06T10:31:00
Warning! Contains extreme crystallography
Opinion
It’s all a matter of fairness
2019-05-28T11:16:00
Won’t somebody think of the children?
Opinion
Have you had enough of the periodic table yet?
2019-03-25T14:25:00
There are enough ways to organise the elements to suit everyone’s taste
Article
Celebrating the periodic table
2019-03-12T15:16:00
Peter Wothers tells us about the first published version of Dmitri Mendeleev’s periodic table, currently on show in Cambridge
Opinion
Who wants to live forever?
2019-01-30T09:30:00
How many of us will be healthy enough to ride off into the golden sunset of a long retirement?
Opinion
Raising a glass to food chemistry
2018-12-05T09:30:00
Remember the chemical side of things
Opinion
The bonds that bind
2018-10-04T14:32:00
Chemical bonds continue to fascinate chemists – and bring us together too
Opinion
Not such a gas
2018-08-01T10:30:00
The carbon dioxide shortage has revealed a lot about the modern economy
Opinion
Are you an ethical chemist?
2018-05-18T13:32:00
Why is there so little ethical training for chemists?
Podcast
Indium tin oxide, ITO
2018-05-03T13:58:00
Swipe, tap, pinch, poke and prod – Neil Withers gets hands on with touchscreen material indium tin oxide
Opinion
Powers of prediction
2018-03-30T12:32:00
If the terrifyingly difficult problem of protein folding is getting closer to a solution, what other intractable problems are ripe for answering?
Opinion
The case for sci-fi chemistry
2018-02-05T11:09:00
…but will it ever be science fact?
Podcast
Cinnarizine (stugeron)
2017-10-12T19:02:00
Neil Withers relives a choppy (and messy) sea voyage to bring us the science of anti-seasickness drug cinnarizine
Opinion
'I wanted to be an explorer'
2017-08-17T08:00:00
John Goodenough on war, peace and the power of optimism
Opinion
Quantum of understanding
2017-07-31T13:26:00
Quantum computing – it’s just as complicated as you thought
Opinion
From fatigue to factory
2017-05-02T14:24:00
MOFs and flexible electronics have grabbed headlines and will soon be on the shelves