Peter was absolutely devoted to science. His enthusiasm was contagious and he was an inspiring group leader. He had a very curious mind and always wanted to reach down to the molecular level and figure out how things worked. Peter was unusual because he was such a nice person, and without a trace of ego. He succeeded in his field through his high standards and tenacious pursuit of knowledge, not by attacking others. In this regard, he was a rare and wonderful role model who helped set the tone of scientific meetings and debate. In human terms, this characteristic may well be his greatest legacy.
Peter also leaves behind an impressive scientific legacy. He began his academic career in 1962 at Grinnell College, Iowa, going on to obtain his Ph.D. in 1970 with Lee Allen at Princeton. There he developed a love of hydrogen bonds that continued throughout his career. Peter would become ecstatic when confronted with a table of hydrogen bond statistics, mentally translating numbers into a molecular structure. He spent 1970–1971 as a NATO fellow at Cambridge with David Buckingham. In 1971, he joined the faculty at the University of California, San Francisco, bringing his rigorous quantum mechanical training on small molecules to the macromolecular world of proteins and nucleic acids.
