In these days of specialization it is important to bring together physicists working in diverse areas to exchange and share their ideas and excitement. This leads to cross-fertilization of ideas, and it enriches, as in biological systems, a specialized field with new strength, development and direction derived from another area. Although this might be an uncommon thing, it is an important step in our under standing of the physical world around us, which is, after aIl, the main purpose of physics. The seed for this conference was really sowed when one of us (MB) and Mr. Manngärd showed some a-scattering data at backward angles to FBM one summer about four years ago. That occasion led to a long research collaboration between the Abo Akademi physicists and other scientists in several countries. The actual idea to explore the possibility of holding a conference, however, crystallized in the summer of 1989 during a visit of FBM to Abo Akademi. The final decision to organize a conference was made after MB visited Profes sor Ben Mottelson in Copenhagen and Professor Anagnostatos in Athens. At this point it was recognized that there are similarities as weIl as differences between clustering phenomena in nuclei and systems consisting of atoms. It was therefore conjectured that it could be very stimulating to bring together these groups to exchange their ideas and to leam from each other's fields. A conference along these lines, we hoped, would contribute to an increased mutual understanding.

The Second International Conference on Atomic and Nuclear Clusters '93 was orga nized in a joint effort by the 'Demokritos' National Center for Scientific Research, G. S. Anagnostatos (representing the atomic physics) and the Hahn-Meitner-Institut, W. von Oertzen (representing the nuclear physics). The subject of clusters - small aggregates of particles - is a topic of primary interest in both atomic and nuclear physics, and also in other fields like in the case of quark-structure of baryons and in cosmology. The interplay between atomic and nuclear physics is a particularly fascinating one because many concepts are common to both fields (quantal effects, shells, geometric structures, collective modes, fission etc. ) This conference was the second after the first one organized by Professor M. Brenner in Abo (Finland) in 1991. The general atmosphere of a joint forum for atomic and nuclear physicists was very fruitful and thus the decision to have a sequence of such meetings has been taken. A third one is planned in St. Petersburg (Russia) with Professor K. Gridnev (St. Petersburg) and Mme. Professor C. Bnkhignac (Orsay) as Chairpersons. The conference site, Fin\. on Santorini island (Greece), was a wonderful choice for a conference. It is small, which helps to keep people concentrated in a smaller community, it has a perfect convention center, the P. Nomikos Conference Center, and a very beautiful landscape formed by a large volcanic crater.

It is the first application to nuclear physics from energy-density functional method, for which Professor Walter Kohn received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The book presents a comprehensive extension of the Bohr-Wheeler theory with the present knowledge of nuclear density distribution function.

This volume contains the lectures of invited speakers on the following topics: Collective excitations at zero and finite temperature; Algebraic and geometric symmetric nuclear models; Fundamental symmetries in nuclear physics; Fast rotating nuclei; Nuclei far from stability; Nuclear multifragmentation; Nuclear astrophysics; Subnucleonic degrees of freedom; Relativistic effects in nuclear physics; Quark-gluon plasma physics; Order and chaos in nuclear physics; Nuclear physics and atomic aggregates; Applied nuclear physics.

With the central importance of electric polarizability and hyperpolarizability for a wide spectrum of activities, this book charts the trends in the accurate theoretical determination of these properties in specialized fields. The contributions include reviews and original papers that extend from methodology to applications in specific areas of primary importance such as cluster science and organic synthesis of molecules with specific properties.

The ASI 'Topics in Atomic and Nuclear Collisions' was organized in Predeal from August 31 to September 11. It brought together people with a broad interest in Atomic and Nuclear Physics from several research institutes and universities in Ro mania and 16 other countries. The school continues a tradition that started on a small scale back in 1968, fo cussing mainly on current problems in nuclear physics. Though the organizing of this edition started very late and in very uncertain economic and financial conditions, it turned out to be the largest meeting of this type ever organized in Romania, both in topics and participation. There were many applicants for participation and grants, considerably more than could be handled. The selection made by the local organizing committee was based on the following criteria: a proper balance of atomic and nuclear physicists, a broad representation of people from Research Institutes and Universities, a balanced par ticipat!on with respect to age, sex, nationality and observance of ASI requirements.

Nuclear molecules are analogous to ordinary electronic molecules. Valence nucleons are circling nuclear cores and thus bind them. They appear in collisions of nuclei on nuclei, and in fission and fusion processes. Here a lively field of research has developed over the past 20 years. Nuclear Molecules are the strongest deformed nuclear complexes and play an important role in nuclear structure (cluster) physics. They are also of considerable interest for the synthesis of elements in astrophysics (cosmology). Most of the various nuclear molecular phenomena are discussed.This book is the first monograph exclusively written to cover the theoretical aspects of nuclear molecular phenomena in heavy ion collisions. The experimental evidence is presented and confronted with theory.