Peter Griffiths was born in England and spent the first 25 years of his life there. He received his doctorate in Physical Chemistry from Oxford University, UK, and spent two years doing postdoctoral research at the University of Maryland, USA, under the supervision of Ellis Lippincott. After brief stints with Digilab, USA, and Sadtler Research Labs, USA, he joined the faculty of Ohio University, USA, reaching the rank of Distinguished Professor. He moved to the University of California, Riverside, USA, before accepting the chairmanship of the Chemistry Department of the University of Idaho, USA, from which he retired in 2008.

His principal research area has been analytical vibrational spectroscopy with particular emphasis on FT-IR spectroscopy. Among the topics that his research group has worked on are diffuse reflection spectroscopy, open-path atmospheric monitoring, and the interface of FT-IR spectrometers with various types of chromatographs (GC, HPLC and SFC).

He has co-authored over 300 papers and has written, co-authored, or edited eleven books on these topics. He taught in a week-long course on the interpretation of IR and Raman spectra for over 30 years and acted as a consultant to several companies and organizations.  

He is the recipient of the Ellis R. Lippincott Award.