Graham Richards

(William) Graham Richards (born 1 October 1939) is a chemist and Emeritus Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford.

Graham Richards was born 1 October 1939 in Hoylake, England, to Percy and Gwendoline Julia (Evans) Richards.

Both parents were of Welsh extraction.

Richards was educated at Birkenhead School.

Richards won a scholarship to Brasenose College, Oxford, starting his studies there in 1958.

Richards received his bachelor's degree in Chemistry with first class honors from the University of Oxford in 1961.

Richards then studied the electronic spectroscopy of diatomic molecules with Richard F. Barrow, earning his Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from the University of Oxford in 1964.

After his DPhil, he continued his spectroscopic work with fellowships in Oxford (ICI Research Fellowship, Junior Research Fellowship at Balliol College) and Paris, France (Centre de Mécanique Ondulatoire Appliquée).

Graham Richards soon returned to Oxford as a research fellow at Balliol College, Oxford (1964–1966).

He was promoted to a lecturer at Oxford University (1966–1994), to reader (1994–1996), and to professor (1996–2007).

His influential paper Third age of quantum chemistry (1979) marked the development of computational techniques for theoretical analysis whose precision equaled or surpassed experimental results.

"'The work represents perhaps a near perfect instance of theory being in harmony with experiment, each aspect vital to the other and the combination much more than the sum of the separate parts'– Graham Richards"

Richards saw the potential to apply computer techniques for examining the structure and properties of compounds in the area of pharmaceutical applications.

He became a pioneer in the field of computer-aided molecular design.

He was the first to produce coloured images modelling molecular structure graphically, and introduced many of the techniques now widely used in academia and industry.

In 1982, Richards became a founding member of the Molecular Graphics Society (now the Molecular Graphics and Modelling Society, MGMS).

The society started the Journal of Molecular Graphics in 1983.

Richards served as the editor-in-chief of the journal from 1984 to 1996.

In 1989 Richards was the scientific co-founder (with Tony Marchington, David Ricketts, James Hiddleston, and Anthony Rees) of Oxford Molecular Limited.

The company developed software for modelling of small molecules and proteins, and drug design.

The company was possible in part because of economic and legal changes under the government of Margaret Thatcher that enabled British universities to become involved with venture capital and technology transfer.

Benefiting from the economic and legal changes, the company was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1992, making the university £10 million.

The company was worth £450 million at its peak but was eventually sold for £70 million.

Richards has published more than 300 scientific papers, including 15 books.

As Oxford Molecular Group, Ltd. (OMG) the company was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1992, making the university £10 million.

The company was worth £450 million at its peak but was eventually sold for £70 million.

He served as head of the department of chemistry at the University of Oxford from 1997 to 2006.

Richards is a pioneer in the field of computer-aided molecular design, in particular its application to the pharmaceuticals industry.

He was the founding scientist of Oxford Molecular Ltd., and introduced a novel model for the funding of research at Oxford University, which has been copied elsewhere.

Richards was one of the scientific co-founders of Oxford Molecular Limited (OMG).

The company developed software for modelling of small molecules and proteins, and drug design.

He served as chairman of the chemistry department from 1997 to 2006.

The journal's name changed to Journal of Molecular Graphics and Modelling in 1997.

It was one of several companies that combined to form Accelrys in 2001.

Richards was instrumental in raising £64 million to fund a new laboratory for Oxford University through an innovative funding approach.

Richards celebrated his formal retirement from the University of Oxford on 18 May 2007.

He is now an Emeritus fellow of Brasenose College.

In the fourth year of his degree course Richard's research project led him to using Oxford's Ferranti Mercury computer to solve integrals.

During a fellowship year in France at Centre de Mécanique Ondulatoire Appliquée, he was able to use more powerful computers.

Returning to Oxford, he worked on ab initio computations and applied computational techniques to solving quantum mechanical problems in theoretical chemistry, in particular studying spin-orbit coupling.