Professor Vernon Gibson CB BSc DPhil CChem FRSC FRS

Biography

Vernon was born in Grantham, Lincolnshire and educated at The King’s School, Grantham. He read Chemistry at the University of Sheffield before moving to Oxford to study for his doctorate. He later held the Sir Edward Frankland Chair of Inorganic Chemistry at Imperial College London.

In 2008 he moved to industry as a Chief Scientist at BP plc.

He joined the Ministry of Defence as Chief Scientific Adviser in 2012, where he was responsible for nuclear and non-nuclear science and technology.

Vernon was elected to the Royal Society in 2004, and in 2020 was awarded the Lord Lewis Prize for his work in policy setting at the interface of academia with industry and government. He was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 2017 Queen’s New Year’s Honours list for services to Defence.

Vernon is married to Sue, with two grown-up children.