Professor Roy MacLeod is a historian of science and technology. He was educated in History and Science (biochemical sciences) at Harvard, and holds PhD and Litt D degrees from Cambridge, and honorary doctorates from Bologna and Sussex. He was among the first Junior Fellows of Churchill College, Cambridge, and a founding Fellow of the Science Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex. In 1970, he became foundation Reader in History and Social Studies of Science at Sussex, and in 1977, the first Professor of Science Education at the Institute of Education of London University. In 1982, he was elected Professor of Modern History at the University of Sydney (1982-2003), since when he has served as an adviser on science and international affairs in the UK, Germany, and Australia. In 1971, he co-founded the journal Social Studies of Science, which he co-edited for twenty years. Between 2000-2008, he succeeded Edward Shils as Editor-in-chief of Minerva. In these, and in his writing and teaching ever since, he has been fundamentally concerned with the defense of academic freedom, the advancement of research, the care of the natural environment, and the diffusion of knowledge for the ‘relief of man’s estate’.