Biography
Professor H.G.M. Edwards M.A., B.Sc.,D.Phil., C.Chem., F.R.S.C.EmeritusProfessor of Molecular Spectroscopy, University of Bradford ; Honorary Scientific Adviser to the de BrecyTrust for the scientific evaluation of artworks. HowellEdwards read Chemistry at Jesus College,University of Oxford, and carried out research for his D.Phil. at Oxford on thechemical applications of Raman spectroscopy. Following a Research Fellowship atJesus College , University of Cambridge, he took a lectureship in Structuraland Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Bradford where he became Readerand then Professor of Molecular Spectroscopy and Head of Division of Chemicaland Forensic Sciences. In 2003, he received the Sir Harold Thompson Award fromElsevier Science for his international contributions to vibrationalspectroscopy. He is the recipient of the Emanuel Boricky Medal for 2008/2009from Charles University, Prague, for distinguished international contributionsto geochemistry and mineralogical analysis. He was awarded the Charles MannAward from the US Federation of Analytical Chemical Spectroscopic Societies in2011 for his international work on the applications of analytical Ramanspectroscopy. He has recently been awarded the Norman Sheppard Award in vibrationalspectroscopy by the IRDG in 2019. Inhis research career he has published over1300 papers on Raman spectroscopy and its applications and is the co-editor ofseveral books including “Handbook of Raman Spectroscopy:FromLaboratory to Process Line”( with I. Lewis , Marcel Dekker , New York ,2001) “Raman Spectroscopy in Archaeologyand Art History” (with JM Chalmers , RSC Publishing , Cambridge, 2005 ; andan updated volume co-edited with P. Vandenabeele in 2018) , “ Ramanand Infrared Spectroscopy in Forensic Science” (with JM Chalmers and MDHargreaves , John Wiley & Sons , Chichester , UK, 2012 ) and “ Selected Topics in Analytical Archaeometry”(with P. Vandenabeele , RSC Publishing , Cambridge , 2012). He has recently authored“Swansea and Nantgarw Porcelains: A ScientificReappraisal” (Springer, Dordrecht, 2017), designed for museum conservators,art historians and analytical scientists working at the arts/science interfaceand a further text on the scientific analysis of porcelains (“Nantgarw and Swansea Porcelains: AnAnalytical Perspective, Springer Nature, 2018) . He has also written severalmonographs on porcelains including NantgarwPorcelain: The Pursuit of Perfection, SwanseaPorcelain: The Vision of Lewis Dillwyn, Derby Porcelain: The GoldenAge:1780-1830, and WilliamBillingsley: The Enigmatic Porcelain Artist, Decorator and Manufacturer (with MD Denyer) all published in 2016 and 2017. He has written abook entitled “Porcelain to Silica Bricks:TheExtreme Ceramics of William Weston Young, 1776-1847”, published by Springerin 2019. Heis member of the International Science Team on the RLS Raman instrument for theExoMars 2020 mission , being responsible for biomolecular signature detection, with the European Space Agency/IKI Roscosmos for the construction and terrestrial evaluation of a miniatureRaman spectrometer adopted for a planetary robotic lander for surface andsubsurface exploration and life–detection on Mars .The lander will deploy onthe Martian surface in a “Search forExtinct and Extant Life” in which the miniaturised Raman RLS instrumentwill be the prime first-pass , screening analytical device for biosignatures.Professor Edwards is also a UK representative of the international Landing SiteSelection Working Group for the ESA /Roscomos ExoMars 2020 mission for the evaluationof potential landing sites for the lander. Hehas been Chairman and committee member of the Molecular Spectroscopy Group ofthe Analytical Division of the Royal Society of Chemistry (London) and is on theScientific Committees of several international conferences in Raman spectroscopy. He is Honorary Scientific Adviser to the de Brecy Trust in the evaluation ofthe scientific composition of their collection of Renaissance and later periodoil paintings. Hehas acted as External Examiner for the Ph.D. degree for 20 Universities in theUK and has served on international tribunals and committees for doctoraldegrees at the Universities of Amsterdam, Amman, Galway, Limerick, Copenhagen,Bilbao, Ghent, Charles University Prague, Pretoria, Witwatersrand, Valladolid, Valencia,Sydney, Brisbane (QUT), Deakin University and Melbourne. He has been Visiting andHonorary Professor at the Universities of Sydney (Australia), Juiz de Fora(Brazil), Sao Paulo (Brazil), Valladolid (Spain) and Charles University Prague (CzechRepublic). Hehas supervised 60 research students successfully at Bradford for the degree ofPh.D. and 14 for M.Phil. by research.
