Dr. Chris A. Mayhew

Biography

Chris Mayhew studied at the Imperial College of Science and Technology, where he graduated with distinction in 1981 in theoretical physics, and acquired his PhD in molecular physics four years later. He continued his scientific work in the Chemistry Division of the Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago, Illinois (USA), where his interest in mass spectrometry was aroused. In 1987 Chris became Alexander von Humboldt fellow to the Physical Institute of the University of Bonn, where he was able to perform X-ray molecular mass spectrometric studies thanks to a special synchrotron light resource available in Bonn. During his stay in Germany, Dr. Mayhew took a permanent position at the school of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Birmingham (UK), where he has led the Molecular Physics Group for close to three decades.

Simultaneously, he created an internationally unique infrastructure in terms of instrumentation to carry out applied and basic research on ion molecule processes. Chris Mayhew’s multidisciplinary research involves the use of soft chemical ionization mass spectrometric techniques in the fields of health science, atmospheric chemistry and homeland security. On October 1, 2016, Chris Mayhew was appointed director of the Institute for Breath Research at the Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck, Austria, and on the 1st May 2018 he was appointed Professor of Molecular Physics at the University of Birmingham. He currently divides his time between Innsbruck and Birmingham.