He won an open scholarship at Trinity College, Oxford, graduating with a first class degree in Modern Languages (Russian and German) in 1954.
After a period of employment, he decided to pursue a more scientific career and took A levels in Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics.
Following the Flixborough disaster of the same year, he was appointed to a new body, the (UK) national Advisory Committee on Major Hazards.
According to Professor Gupta [3] “His work has already saved numerous casualties and enormous economic losses since many thousands have been trained using his books and research papers and have applied them in practice.
He was made a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 1985 and was awarded the degree of Doctor of Science, DSc, honoris causa, by Loughborough University in 1998.