R. McNeill Alexander CBE FRS, is Emeritus Professor of Zoology in the University of Leeds and Editor of Proceedings of the Royal Society (Biological Sciences). He has been President of the Society for Experimental Biology and of the International Society of Vertebrate Morphologists, and Secretary of the Zoological Society of London. His many books include Dynamics of Dinosaurs, Bones: The Unity Of Form And Function, Exploring Biomechanics, and Optima For Animals. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, an Honorary Member of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, a member of the Academia Europaea and a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has received medals from the Zoological Society, the Linnean Society and the International Society for Biomechanics, and honorary doctorates from the Universities of Aberdeen and Wageningen.