K.S. Birdi received his BSc (with honors) from Delhi University, Delhi, India, in 1952 and later majored in chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley, graduating in 1957. In 1959 he moved to Copenhagen, where he joined Lever Bros. as chief chemist in the Development Laboratory. He joined the Institute of Physical Chemistry, Danish Technical University, Lyngby, Denmark as assistant professor in 1966. He was appointed research professor at the Nordic Science Foundation in 1985 and was appointed professor of physical chemistry at the School of Pharmacy, Copenhagen, in 1990 (retired in 1999). He has been a consultant to national and international industries, a member of chemical societies, a member of organizing committees of national and international meetings related to surface science, and was an advisory member of the journal Langmuir from 1985-87. Surface chemistry is his major area of research interest.