Introduction to a special issue of

This publication, in honour of Robert Kaptein's 80th birthday, contains contributions from colleagues, many of whom have worked with him, and others who admire his work and have been stimulated by his research. The contributions show current research in biomolecular NMR, spin hyperpolarisation and spin chemistry, including CIDNP (chemically induced dynamic nuclear polarisation), topics to which he has contributed enormously. His proposal of the radical pair mechanism was the birth of the field of spin chemistry, and the laser CIDNP NMR experiment on a protein was a major breakthrough in hyperpolarisation research. He set milestones for biomolecular NMR by developing computational methods for protein structure determination, including restrained molecular dynamics and 3D NMR methodology. With a lac repressor headpiece, he determined one of the first protein structures determined by NMR. His studies of the lac repressor provided the first examples of detailed studies of protein nucleic acid complexes by NMR. This deepened our understanding of protein DNA recognition and led to a molecular model for protein sliding along the DNA. Furthermore, he played a leading role in establishing the cluster of NMR large-scale facilities in Europe. This editorial gives an introduction to the publication and is followed by a biography describing his contributions to magnetic resonance.