Ray Withers is one of the most able solid state chemist of his generation in Australia. He has discovered new forms of order and disorder in crystalline materials and shown the relationship between local crystal chemistry, longer range macroscopic order and physico-chemical properties in many exemplary systems. He is internationally recognized for his application of electron microscopy, imaging and diffraction to solving complex, incommensurately modulated structures and inherently disordered solid solution phases. The work encompasses not only static structures but also their dynamics and the mechanisms of structural flexibility polymorphism - matters of considerable technological significance.