diff --git a/Modules/FindHDF5.cmake b/Modules/FindHDF5.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..487031f13
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Modules/FindHDF5.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,301 @@
+# - Find HDF5, a library for reading and writing self describing array data.
+#
+# This module invokes the HDF5 wrapper compiler that should be installed
+# alongside HDF5.  Depending upon the HDF5 Configuration, the wrapper compiler
+# is called either h5cc or h5pcc.  If this succeeds, the module will then call
+# the compiler with the -show argument to see what flags are used when compiling
+# an HDF5 client application.
+#
+# The module will optionally accept the COMPONENTS argument.  If no COMPONENTS
+# are specified, then the find module will default to finding only the HDF5 C
+# library.  If one or more COMPONENTS are specified, the module will attempt to
+# find the language bindings for the specified components.  Currently, the only
+# valid components are C and CXX.  The module does not yet support finding the
+# Fortran bindings.  If the COMPONENTS argument is not given, the module will
+# attempt to find only the C bindings.
+#
+# On UNIX systems, this module will read the variable HDF5_USE_STATIC_LIBRARIES
+# to determine whether or not to prefer a static link to a dynamic link for HDF5
+# and all of it's dependencies.  To use this feature, make sure that the
+# HDF5_USE_STATIC_LIBRARIES variable is set before the call to find_package.
+#
+# To provide the module with a hint about where to find your HDF5 installation,
+# you can set the environment variable HDF5_ROOT.  The Find module will then
+# look in this path when searching for HDF5 executables, paths, and libraries.
+#
+# In addition to finding the includes and libraries required to compile an HDF5
+# client application, this module also makes an effort to find tools that come
+# with the HDF5 distribution that may be useful for regression testing.
+# 
+# This module will define the following variables:
+#  HDF5_INCLUDE_DIR - Location of the hdf5 includes
+#  HDF5_DEFINITIONS - Required compiler definitions for HDF5
+#  HDF5_C_LIBRARIES - Required libraries for the HDF5 C bindings.
+#  HDF5_CXX_LIBRARIES - Required libraries for the HDF5 C++ bindings
+#  HDF5_LIBRARIES - Required libraries for all requested bindings
+#  HDF5_FOUND - true if HDF5 was found on the system
+#  HDF5_LIBRARY_DIRS - the full set of library directories
+#  HDF5_IS_PARALLEL - Whether or not HDF5 was found with parallel IO support
+#  HDF5_C_COMPILER_EXECUTABLE - the path to the HDF5 C wrapper compiler
+#  HDF5_CXX_COMPILER_EXECUTABLE - the path to the HDF5 C++ wrapper compiler
+#  HDF5_DIFF_EXECUTABLE - the path to the HDF5 dataset comparison tool
+
+# This module is maintained by Will Dicharry <wdicharry@stellarscience.com>.
+
+include(SelectLibraryConfigurations)
+include(FindPackageHandleStandardArgs)
+
+# List of the valid HDF5 components
+set( HDF5_VALID_COMPONENTS 
+    C
+    CXX
+)
+
+# try to find the HDF5 wrapper compilers
+find_program( HDF5_C_COMPILER_EXECUTABLE
+    NAMES h5cc h5pcc
+    HINTS ENV HDF5_ROOT
+    PATH_SUFFIXES bin Bin
+    DOC "HDF5 Wrapper compiler.  Used only to detect HDF5 compile flags." )
+mark_as_advanced( HDF5_C_COMPILER_EXECUTABLE )
+
+find_program( HDF5_CXX_COMPILER_EXECUTABLE
+    NAMES h5c++ h5pc++
+    HINTS ENV HDF5_ROOT
+    PATH_SUFFIXES bin Bin
+    DOC "HDF5 C++ Wrapper compiler.  Used only to detect HDF5 compile flags." )
+mark_as_advanced( HDF5_CXX_COMPILER_EXECUTABLE )
+
+find_program( HDF5_DIFF_EXECUTABLE 
+    NAMES h5diff
+    HINTS ENV HDF5_ROOT
+    PATH_SUFFIXES bin Bin 
+    DOC "HDF5 file differencing tool." )
+mark_as_advanced( HDF5_DIFF_EXECUTABLE )
+
+# Invoke the HDF5 wrapper compiler.  The compiler return value is stored to the
+# return_value argument, the text output is stored to the output variable.
+macro( _HDF5_invoke_compiler language output return_value )
+    if( HDF5_${language}_COMPILER_EXECUTABLE )
+        exec_program( ${HDF5_${language}_COMPILER_EXECUTABLE} 
+            ARGS -show
+            OUTPUT_VARIABLE ${output}
+            RETURN_VALUE ${return_value}
+        )
+        if( ${${return_value}} EQUAL 0 )
+            # do nothing
+        else()
+            message( STATUS 
+              "Unable to determine HDF5 ${language} flags from HDF5 wrapper." )
+        endif()
+    endif()
+endmacro()
+
+# Parse a compile line for definitions, includes, library paths, and libraries.
+macro( _HDF5_parse_compile_line 
+    compile_line 
+    include_paths
+    definitions
+    library_paths
+    libraries )
+
+    # Match the include paths
+    string( REGEX MATCHALL "-I([^\" ]+)" include_path_flags 
+        "${compile_line}" 
+    )
+    foreach( IPATH ${include_path_flags} )
+        string( REGEX REPLACE "^-I" "" IPATH ${IPATH} )
+        string( REGEX REPLACE "//" "/" IPATH ${IPATH} )
+        list( APPEND ${include_paths} ${IPATH} )
+    endforeach()
+
+    # Match the definitions
+    string( REGEX MATCHALL "-D[^ ]*" definition_flags "${compile_line}" )
+    foreach( DEF ${definition_flags} )
+        list( APPEND ${definitions} ${DEF} )
+    endforeach()
+
+    # Match the library paths
+    string( REGEX MATCHALL "-L([^\" ]+|\"[^\"]+\")" library_path_flags
+        "${compile_line}"
+    )
+    
+    foreach( LPATH ${library_path_flags} )
+        string( REGEX REPLACE "^-L" "" LPATH ${LPATH} )
+        string( REGEX REPLACE "//" "/" LPATH ${LPATH} )
+        list( APPEND ${library_paths} ${LPATH} )
+    endforeach()
+
+    # now search for the library names specified in the compile line (match -l...)
+    # match only -l's preceded by a space or comma
+    # this is to exclude directory names like xxx-linux/
+    string( REGEX MATCHALL "[, ]-l([^\", ]+)" library_name_flags
+        "${compile_line}" )
+    # strip the -l from all of the library flags and add to the search list
+    foreach( LIB ${library_name_flags} )
+        string( REGEX REPLACE "^[, ]-l" "" LIB ${LIB} )
+        list( APPEND ${libraries} ${LIB} )
+    endforeach()
+endmacro()
+
+if( HDF5_INCLUDE_DIR AND HDF5_LIBRARIES )
+    # Do nothing: we already have HDF5_INCLUDE_PATH and HDF5_LIBRARIES in the
+    # cache, it would be a shame to override them
+else()
+    _HDF5_invoke_compiler( C HDF5_C_COMPILE_LINE HDF5_C_RETURN_VALUE )
+    _HDF5_invoke_compiler( CXX HDF5_CXX_COMPILE_LINE HDF5_CXX_RETURN_VALUE )
+
+    if( NOT HDF5_FIND_COMPONENTS )
+        set( HDF5_LANGUAGE_BINDINGS "C" )
+    else()
+        # add the extra specified components, ensuring that they are valid.
+        foreach( component ${HDF5_FIND_COMPONENTS} )
+            list( FIND HDF5_VALID_COMPONENTS ${component} component_location )
+            if( ${component_location} EQUAL -1 )
+                message( FATAL_ERROR  
+                    "\"${component}\" is not a valid HDF5 component." )
+            else()
+                list( APPEND HDF5_LANGUAGE_BINDINGS ${component} )
+            endif()
+        endforeach()
+    endif()
+    
+    # seed the initial lists of libraries to find with items we know we need
+    set( HDF5_C_LIBRARY_NAMES_INIT hdf5 hdf5_hl )
+    set( HDF5_CXX_LIBRARY_NAMES_INIT hdf5_cpp )
+    
+    foreach( LANGUAGE ${HDF5_LANGUAGE_BINDINGS} )
+        if( HDF5_${LANGUAGE}_COMPILE_LINE )
+            _HDF5_parse_compile_line( ${HDF5_${LANGUAGE}_COMPILE_LINE} 
+                HDF5_${LANGUAGE}_INCLUDE_FLAGS
+                HDF5_${LANGUAGE}_DEFINITIONS
+                HDF5_${LANGUAGE}_LIBRARY_DIRS
+                HDF5_${LANGUAGE}_LIBRARY_NAMES
+            )
+        
+            # take a guess that the includes may be in the 'include' sibling directory
+            # of a library directory.
+            foreach( dir ${HDF5_${LANGUAGE}_LIBRARY_DIRS} )
+                list( APPEND HDF5_${LANGUAGE}_INCLUDE_FLAGS ${dir}/../include )
+            endforeach()
+        endif()
+
+        # set the definitions for the language bindings.
+        list( APPEND HDF5_DEFINITIONS ${HDF5_${LANGUAGE}_DEFINITIONS} )
+    
+        # find the HDF5 include directories
+        find_path( HDF5_${LANGUAGE}_INCLUDE_DIR hdf5.h
+            HINTS
+                ${HDF5_${LANGUAGE}_INCLUDE_FLAGS}
+                ENV
+                    HDF5_ROOT
+            PATHS 
+                $ENV{HOME}/.local/include
+            PATH_SUFFIXES
+                include
+                Include
+        )
+        mark_as_advanced( HDF5_${LANGUAGE}_INCLUDE_DIR )
+        list( APPEND HDF5_INCLUDE_DIR ${HDF5_${LANGUAGE}_INCLUDE_DIR} )
+        
+        set( HDF5_${LANGUAGE}_LIBRARY_NAMES 
+            ${HDF5_${LANGUAGE}_LIBRARY_NAMES_INIT} 
+            ${HDF5_${LANGUAGE}_LIBRARY_NAMES} )
+        
+        # find the HDF5 libraries
+        foreach( LIB ${HDF5_${LANGUAGE}_LIBRARY_NAMES} )
+            if( UNIX AND HDF5_USE_STATIC_LIBRARIES )
+                # According to bug 1643 on the CMake bug tracker, this is the
+                # preferred method for searching for a static library.
+                # See http://www.cmake.org/Bug/view.php?id=1643.  We search
+                # first for the full static library name, but fall back to a
+                # generic search on the name if the static search fails.
+                set( THIS_LIBRARY_SEARCH_DEBUG lib${LIB}d.a ${LIB}d )
+                set( THIS_LIBRARY_SEARCH_RELEASE lib${LIB}.a ${LIB} )
+            else()
+                set( THIS_LIBRARY_SEARCH_DEBUG ${LIB}d )
+                set( THIS_LIBRARY_SEARCH_RELEASE ${LIB} )
+            endif()
+            find_library( HDF5_${LIB}_LIBRARY_DEBUG 
+                NAMES ${THIS_LIBRARY_SEARCH_DEBUG} 
+                HINTS ${HDF5_${LANGUAGE}_LIBRARY_DIRS} 
+                ENV HDF5_ROOT 
+                PATH_SUFFIXES lib Lib )
+            find_library( HDF5_${LIB}_LIBRARY_RELEASE
+                NAMES ${THIS_LIBRARY_SEARCH_RELEASE} 
+                HINTS ${HDF5_${LANGUAGE}_LIBRARY_DIRS} 
+                ENV HDF5_ROOT 
+                PATH_SUFFIXES lib Lib )
+            select_library_configurations( HDF5_${LIB} )
+            # even though we adjusted the individual library names in
+            # select_library_configurations, we still need to distinguish
+            # between debug and release variants because HDF5_LIBRARIES will
+            # need to specify different lists for debug and optimized builds.
+            # We can't just use the HDF5_${LIB}_LIBRARY variable (which was set
+            # up by the selection macro above) because it may specify debug and
+            # optimized variants for a particular library, but a list of
+            # libraries is allowed to specify debug and optimized only once.
+            list( APPEND HDF5_${LANGUAGE}_LIBRARIES_DEBUG 
+                ${HDF5_${LIB}_LIBRARY_DEBUG} )
+            list( APPEND HDF5_${LANGUAGE}_LIBRARIES_RELEASE 
+                ${HDF5_${LIB}_LIBRARY_RELEASE} )
+        endforeach()
+        list( APPEND HDF5_LIBRARY_DIRS ${HDF5_${LANGUAGE}_LIBRARY_DIRS} )
+        
+        # Append the libraries for this language binding to the list of all
+        # required libraries.
+        list( APPEND HDF5_LIBRARIES_DEBUG 
+            ${HDF5_${LANGUAGE}_LIBRARIES_DEBUG} )
+        list( APPEND HDF5_LIBRARIES_RELEASE
+            ${HDF5_${LANGUAGE}_LIBRARIES_RELEASE} )
+    endforeach()
+
+    # We may have picked up some duplicates in various lists during the above
+    # process for the language bindings (both the C and C++ bindings depend on
+    # libz for example).  Remove the duplicates.
+    list( REMOVE_DUPLICATES HDF5_INCLUDE_DIR )
+    list( REMOVE_DUPLICATES HDF5_LIBRARIES_DEBUG )
+    list( REMOVE_DUPLICATES HDF5_LIBRARIES_RELEASE )
+    list( REMOVE_DUPLICATES HDF5_LIBRARY_DIRS )
+
+    # Construct the complete list of HDF5 libraries with debug and optimized
+    # variants when the generator supports them.
+    if( CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES OR CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE )
+        set( HDF5_LIBRARIES
+            debug ${HDF5_LIBRARIES_DEBUG}
+            optimized ${HDF5_LIBRARIES_RELEASE} )
+    else()
+        set( HDF5_LIBRARIES ${HDF5_LIBRARIES_RELEASE} )
+    endif()
+
+    # If the HDF5 include directory was found, open H5pubconf.h to determine if
+    # HDF5 was compiled with parallel IO support
+    if( HDF5_INCLUDE_DIR )
+        file( STRINGS "${HDF5_INCLUDE_DIR}/H5pubconf.h" 
+            HDF5_HAVE_PARALLEL_DEFINE
+            REGEX "HAVE_PARALLEL 1" )
+        if( HDF5_HAVE_PARALLEL_DEFINE )
+            set( HDF5_IS_PARALLEL TRUE )
+        else()
+            set( HDF5_IS_PARALLEL FALSE )
+        endif()
+    endif()
+    set( HDF5_IS_PARALLEL ${HDF5_IS_PARALLEL} CACHE BOOL
+        "HDF5 library compiled with parallel IO support" )
+    mark_as_advanced( HDF5_IS_PARALLEL )
+
+endif()
+
+find_package_handle_standard_args( HDF5 DEFAULT_MSG 
+    HDF5_LIBRARIES 
+    HDF5_INCLUDE_DIR
+)
+
+mark_as_advanced( 
+    HDF5_INCLUDE_DIR 
+    HDF5_LIBRARIES 
+    HDF5_DEFINTIONS
+    HDF5_LIBRARY_DIRS
+    HDF5_C_COMPILER_EXECUTABLE
+    HDF5_CXX_COMPILER_EXECUTABLE )
+
diff --git a/Modules/SelectLibraryConfigurations.cmake b/Modules/SelectLibraryConfigurations.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4cec40f9b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Modules/SelectLibraryConfigurations.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+# select_library_configurations( basename )
+#
+# This macro takes a library base name as an argument, and will choose good
+# values for basename_LIBRARY, basename_LIBRARIES, basename_LIBRARY_DEBUG, and
+# basename_LIBRARY_RELEASE depending on what has been found and set.  If only
+# basename_LIBRARY_RELEASE is defined, basename_LIBRARY, basename_LIBRARY_DEBUG,
+# and basename_LIBRARY_RELEASE will be set to the release value.  If only
+# basename_LIBRARY_DEBUG is defined, then basename_LIBRARY,
+# basename_LIBRARY_DEBUG and basename_LIBRARY_RELEASE will take the debug value.  
+#
+# If the generator supports configuration types, then basename_LIBRARY and
+# basename_LIBRARIES will be set with debug and optimized flags specifying the
+# library to be used for the given configuration.  If no build type has been set
+# or the generator in use does not support configuration types, then
+# basename_LIBRARY and basename_LIBRARIES will take only the release values.
+
+# This macro was adapted from the FindQt4 CMake module and is maintained by Will
+# Dicharry <wdicharry@stellarscience.com>.
+
+# Utility macro to check if one variable exists while another doesn't, and set
+# one that doesn't exist to the one that exists.
+macro( _set_library_name basename GOOD BAD )
+    if( ${basename}_LIBRARY_${GOOD} AND NOT ${basename}_LIBRARY_${BAD} )
+        set( ${basename}_LIBRARY_${BAD} ${${basename}_LIBRARY_${GOOD}} )
+        set( ${basename}_LIBRARY ${${basename}_LIBRARY_${GOOD}} )
+        set( ${basename}_LIBRARIES ${${basename}_LIBRARY_${GOOD}} )
+    endif( ${basename}_LIBRARY_${GOOD} AND NOT ${basename}_LIBRARY_${BAD} )
+endmacro( _set_library_name )
+
+macro( select_library_configurations basename )
+    # if only the release version was found, set the debug to be the release
+    # version.
+    _set_library_name( ${basename} RELEASE DEBUG )
+    # if only the debug version was found, set the release value to be the
+    # debug value.
+    _set_library_name( ${basename} DEBUG RELEASE )
+    if (${basename}_LIBRARY_DEBUG AND ${basename}_LIBRARY_RELEASE )
+        # if the generator supports configuration types or CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE
+        # is set, then set optimized and debug options.
+        if( CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES OR CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE )
+            set( ${basename}_LIBRARY 
+                optimized ${${basename}_LIBRARY_RELEASE}
+                debug ${${basename}_LIBRARY_DEBUG} )
+            set( ${basename}_LIBRARIES 
+                optimized ${${basename}_LIBRARY_RELEASE}
+                debug ${${basename}_LIBRARY_DEBUG} )
+        else( CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES OR CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE )
+            # If there are no configuration types or build type, just use
+            # the release version
+            set( ${basename}_LIBRARY ${${basename}_LIBRARY_RELEASE} )
+            set( ${basename}_LIBRARIES ${${basename}_LIBRARY_RELEASE} )
+        endif( CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES OR CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE )
+    endif( ${basename}_LIBRARY_DEBUG AND ${basename}_LIBRARY_RELEASE )
+
+    set( ${basename}_LIBRARY ${${basename}_LIBRARY} CACHE FILEPATH 
+        "The ${basename} library" )
+
+    if( ${basename}_LIBRARY )
+        set( ${basename}_FOUND TRUE )
+    endif( ${basename}_LIBRARY )
+
+    mark_as_advanced( ${basename}_LIBRARY 
+        ${basename}_LIBRARY_RELEASE
+        ${basename}_LIBRARY_DEBUG
+    )
+endmacro( select_library_configurations )
+