The principal goals of the study were to articulate the scientific rationale and objectives of the field and then to take a long-term strategic view of U.S. nuclear science in the global context for setting future directions for the field. Nuclear Physics: Exploring the Heart of Matter provides a long-term assessment of an outlook for nuclear physics. The first phase of the report articulates the scientific rationale and objectives of the field, while the second phase provides a global context for the field and its long-term priorities and proposes a framework for progress through 2020 and beyond. In the second phase of the study, also developing a framework for progress through 2020 and beyond, the committee carefully considered the balance between universities and government facilities in terms of research and workforce development and the role of international collaborations in leveraging future investments. Nuclear physics today is a diverse field, encompassing research that spans dimensions from a tiny fraction of the volume of the individual particles (neutrons and protons) in the atomic nucleus to the enormous scales of astrophysical objects in the cosmos. Nuclear Physics: Exploring the Heart of Matter explains the research objectives, which include the desire not only to better understand the nature of matter interacting at the nuclear level, but also to describe the state of the universe that existed at the big bang. This report explains how the universe can now be studied in the most advanced colliding-beam accelerators, where strong forces are the dominant interactions, as well as the nature of neutrinos.

"The textbook itself is the culmination of the authors' many years of teaching and research in atomic physics, nuclear and particle physics, and modern physics. It is also a crystallization of their intense passion and strong interest in the history of physics and the philosophy of science. Together with the solution manual which presents solutions to many end-of-chapter problems in the textbook, they are a valuable resource to the instructors and students working in the modern atomic field."--Publisher's website.

This book will hopefully shed light on some of the advances taking place within nuclear science research in recent times. It describes the interesting results of some modern nuclear science research carried out by bright scientists and researchers in different parts of the world. The book is divided into five chapters. The first one is an introductory chapter to explain the nature and purpose of the book and the logic and significance of its contents. The second chapter is a concise introduction to the core subject of nuclear science, which is the nuclear reactions. This chapter also touches on the fundamental and basic physics underlining major nuclear reactions. Chapter three addresses some recent advances related to the famous nuclear detector material namely CdTe. The authors suggest that the modern detector based on CdTe materials can be developed as a multi-element detection platform that allows for the direct conversion of information generated by passing X/y-radiations through an examined object into an array of digital electrical signals without using an intermediate visible image on a fluorescent screen. In chapter four, a new study on the effect of unintended and accidental nuclear impact on the environment is discussed. In the last chapter, Thomas W. Grimshaw; from The University of Texas at Austin, USA; has composed an interesting study on the so-called cold nuclear fusion or the more widely known low energy nuclear reaction (LENR). He, among others, argues that nuclear cold fusion, if realized and understood, could be a significant source of cheap and clean energy. This book will hopefully encourage readers, researchers, and scientists to look further into the frontier topics of modern nuclear science and make the needed efforts to develop its cause and uses.

Dramatic progress has been made in all branches of physics since the National Research Council's 1986 decadal survey of the field. The Physics in a New Era series explores these advances and looks ahead to future goals. The series includes assessments of the major subfields and reports on several smaller subfields, and preparation has begun on an overview volume on the unity of physics, its relationships to other fields, and its contributions to national needs. Nuclear Physics is the latest volume of the series. The book describes current activity in understanding nuclear structure and symmetries, the behavior of matter at extreme densities, the role of nuclear physics in astrophysics and cosmology, and the instrumentation and facilities used by the field. It makes recommendations on the resources needed for experimental and theoretical advances in the coming decade.

The ?eld of nuclear physics is entering the 21st century in an interesting and exciting way. On the one hand, it is changing qualitatively since new experim- tal developments allow us to direct radioactive and other exotic probes to target nuclei as well as to sparko? extremely energetic nuclear collisions. In parallel, detector systems are of an impressive sophistication. It is di?cult to envisage all the discoveries that will be made in the near future. On the other hand, the app- cations of nuclear science and technology are broadening the limits in medicine, industry, art, archaeology, and the environmental sciences, etc. This implies that the public perception of our ?eld is changing, smoothly but drastically, in c- trast to former times where nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants were the dominant applications perceived by citizens. Both aspects, scienti?c dynamism and popular recognition, should lead the ?eld to an unexpected revival. One of the consequences of the former could be that many brilliant students consider nuclear physics as an excellent ?eld in which to acquire professional expertise. Therefore, one of the challenges of the international nuclear physics community is to try to make the ?eld attractive. That means simply being pedagogic and enthusiastic. Thus, as organisers of an already established summer school, our contribution was to put an emphasis in this session on pedagogy and enthusiasm.