Son of a greek singer and of a tool maker, Phivos grew up in Basildon Essex, when he first listened to the Doctor Who Theme music made by Delia Derbyshire and John Balker and fell in love with the synthesizers. Inspired by the legacy of the Depeche Mode, in 1982 at age 9, he bought his first records. In 1984, at eleven, he got his first synthesizer. A Yamaha CS01 MKII, a monophonic analog. He took six months of organ lessons for the basics.

His first close contact with the realm of electronic music happened when he listened to the Synth Pop classics of The Human League, and, of course, D.M. At twelve, his older sister Nina, took him to some concerts, such as the early tours of Siouxies and the Banshees, The Human League and even Depeche Mode. This gave him a whole new direction and inspiration.

Phivos loved all of the quality synthesizer music, from ambient to Detroit techno. He first heard Chicago sound at school, and got into the futuristic sound of Detroit some time later at the end of the 80's. He got involved in Alternative Radio Station Phaze One, whose members were Fabio, Grooverider, Dave Angel and The Passion Crew (Jumpin Jack Frost and Bryan Gee). The named him The Scientist. They used to call Phil 'Q' a while before because of his intellectual skills. Then for a party at the Fridge in Brixton, they decided to write The Scientist on the flyers, an artistic name that definitely stuck. One night at the Fridge, he found himself suddenly sharing a dressing room with The Shut Up & Dance crew, who were doing a live set there.

He met their mixing professional at that time: DJ Hype, with whom he created "The Exorcist" (& "Champion Sound"), They produced "The Bee", which hit No.1 on the independent dance charts selling more than 35,000 records. It was named track of the year in 1990 by Kiss FM. Then came The Exorcist, and after a split between house and hardcore and a year without releasing anything, Phivos left Kickin Records and started to produce under the name Pure Science.