Sir Paul Terence Callaghan ( ; 19 August 1947 – 24 March 2012) was a New Zealand

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

who, as the founding director of the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology at

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...

, held the position of Alan MacDiarmid Professor of Physical Sciences and was President of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance.

Biography

Callaghan was born on 19 August 1947, the son of Mavis and Ernest Callaghan. He had an older brother Jim, older sister Jeanine, and younger sister Mary. His maternal grandparents were Agnes and Francis Hogg. A native of

Whanganui Whanganui, also spelt Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whanganui is ...

, Callaghan attended Wanganui Technical College (now Wanganui City College). He took his first degree in physics at Victoria University of Wellington and subsequently earned a

DPhil A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

degree at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, working in

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. On his return to New Zealand in 1974, he took up a lecturing position at

Massey University Massey University () is a Public university, public research university in New Zealand that provides internal and distance education. The university has campuses in Auckland, Palmerston North, and Wellington. Data from Universities New Zealand ...

, where he began researching the applications of magnetic resonance to the study of soft matter. He was made Professor of Physics in 1984, and was appointed Alan MacDiarmid Professor of Physical Sciences in 2001. The following year, as its founding director, he helped establish the multi-university MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology. Callaghan was President of the Academy Council of the

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(RSNZ), and published over 240 articles in scientific journals, as well as the books ''Principles of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Microscopy'' in 1994 and ''Translational Dynamics and Magnetic Resonance'' in 2011. He was a founding director and shareholder of Magritek, a technology company based in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

that sells nuclear magnetic resonance and MRI instruments. He was a regular public speaker on science matters and, in 2007, one of his radio series, of discussions with Kim Hill on

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appeared in book form as ''As Far as We Know: Conversations about Science, Life and the Universe''. A 2009 book, ''Wool to Weta: Transforming New Zealand's Culture and Economy'', dealt with the potential for science and technology entrepreneurialism to diversify New Zealand's economy. He was the presenter of a concurrent documentary, ''Beyond the Farm and the Themepark'', which deals with the same issues. In 2001 Callaghan became the 36th New Zealander to be made a Fellow of the

Royal Society of London The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, r ...

. He was awarded the Ampere Prize in 2004 and the RSNZ's Rutherford Medal in 2005. He was appointed a Principal Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the

2006 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2006 in some Commonwealth realms were announced (on 31 December 2005) in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Grenada, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, and Saint Christopher and Nevis to c ...

, and in 2007 was recognised with a World Class New Zealander Award and the Sir Peter Blake Medal. He was awarded a two-year James Cook Research Fellowship by the

in 2008. In

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, he accepted re-designation as a Knight Grand Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit following the reinstatement of titular honours by the New Zealand government. In 2010 he was awarded the Günther Laukien Prize for Magnetic Resonance and shared the New Zealand Prime Minister's Science Prize. In 2011 he was named

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's New Zealander of the Year and later that year elected an Honorary Fellow of

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th c ...

. Callaghan died on 24 March 2012, aged 64, after a long battle with colon cancer. He was survived by his first wife, Sue Roberts, two children, Catherine and Chris, and his second wife Miang Lim. After his death, Callaghan was again recognised with a World Class New Zealand award, becoming the Supreme winner in May 2012. The New Zealand Crown entity, Callaghan Innovation, formed in February 2013, was named after him. He was an atheist.

Areas of contribution

Callaghan was an author of over 230 journal articles. His research group specialised in developing NMR methodologies for the study of molecular dynamics and molecular organisation in complex fluids, soft matter and porous materials. Major areas of contribution include: * Rheo-NMR (rheology of fluids studied by nuclear magnetic resonance) * Diffusion of molecules in porous media (for example, studying the microscopic structure of sea ice). * Development of NMR techniques that use the

Earth's magnetic field Earth's magnetic field, also known as the geomagnetic field, is the magnetic field that extends from structure of Earth, Earth's interior out into space, where it interacts with the solar wind, a stream of charged particles emanating from ...

Positions

* 1974 Lecturer, Massey University, Palmerston North * 1984 Professor of Physics, Massey University, Palmerston North * 2001 Alan MacDiarmid Professor of Physical Sciences at Victoria University, Wellington

Awards and honours

* 2001 elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

* 2004 Ampere Prize * 2005 Rutherford Medal * 2006 Principal Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit * 2007 Sir Peter Blake Medal * 2008 Dan Walls Medal (inaugural recipient) * 2008 James Cook Research Fellowship by the Royal Society of New Zealand. * 2009 Knighted * 2010 Günther Laukien Prize for Magnetic Resonance * 2010 New Zealand Prime Minister's Science Prize. * 2011 New Zealander of the Year

Callaghan Medal

The

established the Callaghan Medal in 2011 for "an outstanding contribution to science communication and raising public awareness of the value of science to human progress". Winners include: * 2011 Peter Gluckman * 2012 Shaun Hendy * 2013 Siouxsie Wiles * 2014 Peter Dearden * 2015 Michelle Dickinson * 2016 Hamish Spencer * 2017 Peter Shepherd * 2018 Helen Taylor * 2019 Ocean Mercier * 2020 Rangi Mātamua * 2022 Michael Baker * 2023 Mike Joy * 2024 Dianne Sika-Paotonu

Books

* Callaghan, P. (1994). ''Principles of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Microscopy''. Oxford University Press. * Callaghan, P. and Hill, K. (2007). ''As Far as We Know: Conversations about Science, Life and the Universe''. Penguin. * Callaghan, P. (2009). ''Wool to Weta: Transforming New Zealand's Culture and Economy''. Auckland University Press. * Callaghan, P. (2011). ''Translational Dynamics and Magnetic Resonance: Principles of Pulsed Gradient Spin Echo NMR''. Oxford University Press * Callaghan, P. and Hendy, S. (2013). ''Get off the Grass: Kickstarting New Zealand’s Innovation Economy''. Auckland University Press

References

External links

Paul Callaghan
at the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology
Soft Matter and Porous Media Group
at the Victoria University of Wellington (VUW)
Dancing With Atoms
2018 documentary film on Callaghan's life and work by Shirley Horrocks {{DEFAULTSORT:Callaghan, Paul 1947 births 2012 deaths New Zealand fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal Society of New Zealand Knights Grand Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit Academic staff of Massey University People from Whanganui Academic staff of Victoria University of Wellington Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Recipients of the Rutherford Medal Deaths from colorectal cancer in New Zealand People educated at Whanganui City College 20th-century New Zealand scientists 20th-century New Zealand physicists 21st-century New Zealand physicists Alumni of the University of Oxford James Cook Research Fellows