Peter J.T. Morris took a chemistry degree at Oxford and then a D.Phil. on the development of synthetic rubber by the German combine IG Farben. After working in the History of Chemistry Research Group at the Open University with Colin Russell and at the Centre for the History of Chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania with Arnold Thackray, he oversaw the chemistry collections at the Science Museum in London for 24 years before retiring in 2015. He was given the Edelstein Award of the American Chemical Society in 2006 and the Wheeler Award by the Royal Society of Chemistry's Historical Group in 2013.

Peter Reed gained a BSc degree at the University of London and a Postgraduate Certificate in Education at the University of Leicester. He was Head of Chemistry at the Grammar School, Henley on Thames, before spending twenty-three years working for the museums in Liverpool. He retired in 1998 as Head of the Development Office for National Museums and Galleries of Merseyside, and then undertook consultancy work for the Canadian company ARIUS-3D, the European Commission and EUCLID (Liverpool), and was project manager for the Carpet Museum in Kidderminster.