Born 1938, Robert 'Bob' M. Simmons received his education at King's College London (BA Hons in Physics 1960), PhD at the Royal Institution 1965, and an MSci (1967 UCL with Andrew Huxley).  With Huxley, he developed new methodology leading to proposal of the ratchet/spring model of muscle contraction.  Later, he catalysed the application of optical tweezers to biological questions, providing the first single molecule measurements of myosin force production. 

He was a Lecturer in UCL 1970-79, before being appointed Professor of Biophysics at King’s and Director of the MRC Muscle and Cell Motility Unit until his retirement in 2002. He co-founded, and was the first Director of, the Randall Institute at Drury Lane, unifying the MRC and KCL interests in Biophysics as broadly applied in biology and medicine.