Timothy John Brocksom took his PhD under the supervision of Prof Sir Alan R Battersby at Liverpool University in 1968. He completed post-doctorals under the directions of Prof William S Johnson at Stanford University (1968-1970) and Prof James P Kutney at the University of British Columbia (1970-1972). He then moved to the State University of São Paulo as an NAS/CNPq Fellow and Visiting Prof. In 1977 he became Full Prof at the Federal University of São Carlos, São Paulo State and after retiremment in 2013 now acts as Senior Prof. He has also directed evaluation activities in Brazilian funding agencies, given many advanced short courses all over Brazil, and received several awards and distinctions. His interests are in bio-organic chemistry, where Nature is his inspiring research director.