Alastair Compston is professor emeritus of neurology in the University of Cambridge. He is a Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, and was formerly president of the European Neurological Society and the Association of British Neurologists, and editor of Brain, a journal of neurology. His research on the clinical science of human demyelinating disease has been recognised by several international prizes. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and the Academy of Medical Sciences; and is elected as a foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences of Germany and the National Academy of Medicine of the USA. He has been appointed Commander of the British Empire. He has a longstanding interest in antiquarian books. His main activity in retirement is writing on the history of medicine