Acknowledged internationally for his ground-breaking scientific research in the field of magnetic resonance, Sir Paul Callaghan was a scientist and visionary with a rare gift for promoting science to a wide audience. He was named New Zealander of the Year in 2011. His death in early 2012 robbed New Zealand of an inspirational leader.

Paul Callaghan: Luminous Moments brings together some of his most significant writing. Whether he describes his childhood in Wanganui, reflects on discovering the beauty of science, sets out New Zealand’s future potential or discusses the experience of fatherhood, Sir Paul Callaghan offers eloquent narratives that will endure in this country’s literature. Meeting with the cancer that ended his life, he documents for us all ways of living well in the face of illness. As his daughter Catherine writes in her moving foreword: 'He became his own scientific experiment.'