The author is Canadian, obtained a PhD in astrophysics at the University of Sydney in Australia, and spent most of his career as a senior scientist at the European Southern Observatory (ESO), based in Munich. He has authored or co-authored over 250 scientific papers, and edited six books on astronomy and astrophysics. His interests have ranged from our galaxy to distant quasars and the reionization of the universe. He was instrumental in the establishment of Europe’s participation in the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) project. A member of various international organizations and committees, he served as President of the International Astronomical Union’s Division on Galaxies and the Universe. Now retired, he and his Australian wife split their time between Sydney, Toronto, and Europe, and he devotes himself to broadening his horizons in science, in the process having written this book.