Peter Danckwerts was brilliant, witty and wise. A hero of the London Blitz, disarming parachute mines at 23, Danckwerts later turned his sharp intellect to chemical processing, studying at MIT to find out how the Americans did it. Back in the UK at Cambridge University he made an international reputation for himself as an innovator. This biography covers his interest in wine, women and song, as well as his wide grasp of things scientific and the great sympathy and generosity he showed to his colleagues and many friends. 'An elegant exposition of the social, technical and sometimes turbulent life and times of this gentle and considerate man': Bernard Atkinson, ex-ceo Brewing Research Foundation International. 'Captures Danckwerts' disconcertingly complex and essentially private nature while showing how he provided a large part of the thinking which makes chemical engineering a distinct discipline': Roland Clift, executive director of the International Society for Industrial Ecology and emeritus professor at the University of Surrey, UK.