Rob Adlington, who retired in 2020, studied at Imperial College, London, before coming to Oxford in 1980 as a post-doctoral student to join the research group of Professor Sir Jack E. Baldwin, FRS, Waynflete Professor of Chemistry. In 1990 he became a full University Lecturer in Organic Chemistry and Tutorial Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, and was given the title of Professor of Chemistry in 2012.