text: Solomons ground-breaking work on free radical polymerization was initiated through observations made in industry. For example, anomalies that were not explained by polymerization theory at the time, and the observation that during the production of polymer/mineral composites some batches underwent spontaneous combustion. This led to discoveries that had significant influence on the future directions of radical chemistry. It led to the development of Nitroxide Mediated Polymerization (NMP), the first example of a controlled, or living, radical polymerization technique. This research also produced early examples of what was to become known as RAFT, or Reversible addition−fragmentation chain-transfer polymerization. Solomons work rewrote the theory on free radical polymerization, and he was co-author with Graeme Moad on the definitive reference book: The Chemistry of Radical Polymerization (Moad & Solomon, 2006). Previous theories attempted to explain radical polymerization on the basis of thermodynamic stability controlling structure. Solomon's work showed that kinetics was the major factor in controlling the way polymer chains formed.