W. G. Richards

Graham Richards was until 2008 the head of the Chemistry Department at the University of Oxford, the largest Chemistry Department in the western world.

His research was largely in the area of Computer-Aided Drug Design, of which he was one of the pioneers, publishing over 360 articles and more than a dozen books.

He was the scientific founder of Oxford Molecular Group which grew from a £350,000 start-up to a public company with a market capitalisation at its height of £450 million.

He raised the £64 million needed to build Oxford University's new Chemistry Research Laboratory of which the most imaginative part was a deal with a City institution whereby in return for an upfront sum the firm receives half of the University equity in spin-out companies from the Department.Out of this has grown what is now IP Group Plc of which he is senior non-executive director. He also holds directorships in Oxeco Plc, Inhibox Ltd, and TdeltaS Ltd and is on the Council of the Royal Society of Chemistry, chairing their outstandingly successful Publishing Board.

He has not really retired.