On the occasion of the International Conference on Cosmic Rays held in Kyoto in August 1979 five aged members of the cosmic ray fraternity, H. Elliot, V. L. Ginzburg, B. Peters, Y. Sekido, and J. A. Simpson met together as a dinner party devoted to the enjoyment of Japanese cuisine and reminiscences of our younger days. This pleasant occasion called to of our own age as well as some eminent seniors not present at the mind the many friends conference whose recollections would have further enriched and enlivened our evening. By the time the dinner came to an end we had agreed that the compilation of a more extensive collection of personal reminiscences would be an interesting and worthwhile undertaking. Accordingly, the next day we held an editorial meeting to draw up a list of potential authors and two of us, the present editors, started work on the project. In putting the book together our intention has been to try to capture and record through these personal accounts something of the atmosphere, the excitement and the frustrations of research in cosmic rays as experienced at first hand by some of the practi tioners in the field. It has never been our intention that it should comprise a systematic history of the subject. Neither, unfortunately, can it be a fully representative collection since practical limits to the size of the volume alone would preclude that.

The year 1998 marked the 50th anniversary of the invention of the neutron monitor, a key research tool in the field of space physics and solar-terrestrial relations. In honor of this occasion a workshop entitled 'Cosmic Rays and Earth' was organized to review the detection of cosmic rays at the surface and in the lower atmosphere of Earth, including the effect that this radiation has on the terrestrial environment. A special focus was the role of neutron monitors in the investigation of this radiation, on the science enabled by the unique dataset of the worldwide network of neutron monitors, and on continuing opportunities to use these data to solve outstanding problems. This book is the principal product of that workshop, integrating the contribu tions of all participants. Following a general summary of the workshop prepared by the editors, the volume leads off with a keynote article by Professor John Simpson describing his invention of the neutron monitor in 1948 and the early scientific discoveries made with this instrument.

The present monograph as well as the next one (Dorman, M2005) is a result of more than 50 years working in cosmic ray (CR) research. After graduation in December 1950 Moscow Lomonosov State University (Nuclear and Elementary Particle Physics Division, the Team of Theoretical Physics), my supervisor Professor D. I. Blokhintsev planned for me, as a winner of a Red Diploma, to continue my education as an aspirant (a graduate student) to prepare for Ph. D. in his very secret Object in the framework of what was in those time called the Atomic Problem. To my regret the KGB withheld permission, and I, together with other Jewish students who had graduated Nuclear Divisions of Moscow and Leningrad Universities and Institutes, were faced with a real prospect of being without any work. It was our good fortune that at that time there was being brought into being the new Cosmic Ray Project (what at that time was also very secret, but not as secret as the Atomic Problem), and after some time we were directed to work on this Project. It was organized and headed by Prof. S. N. Vernov (President of All-Union Section of Cosmic Rays) and Prof. N. V. Pushkov (Director of IZMIRAN); Prof. E. L. Feinberg headed the theoretical part of the Project.