Jim Feast: a career in polymer science

To mark the occasion of Prof. W. J. (Jim) Feast's official retirement, an international symposium was held in Durham on July 16th and 17th 2004. This article, written by some of the participants in that symposium, highlights the contributions that Jim Feast has made in the areas of ring-opening metathesis polymerisation, electroactive polymers and dendrimers and hyperbranched polymers. In particular, the 'Durham route' polyacetylene, prepared from a precursor polymer itself prepared by ROMP, paved the way for the work in the field of conducting and semi-conducting organic polymeric materials by Richard Friend and others. In addition to the description of Jim's scientific contributions, a brief synopsis of his education and career progression is provided.Jim Feast receiving the SCI's Baekeland medal at the end of the meeting from Professor John Ebdon (former Macro Group UK Chairman).