An International Conference on the "Statistical Properties of Nuclei" was held from August 23 to August 27, 1971, at the State University of New York at Albany campus. The purpose of the conference was to review the current status of the experimental and theoretical aspects of resonance reaction theories, statistics of resonance parameters such as level spacings, neutron, fission, radiative and reaction widths, level densities, fluctuations in cross sections, strength functions and its relation to the optical model, intermediate structure in particle and photon induced reactions, and statistical aspects of the decay of the compound nucleus. The conference was held under the auspices of the Inter national Union of Pure and Applied Physics. The organization of the conference was greatly facilitated by the financial support received from the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics, The National Science Foundation and the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and the generous use of the physical facilities and other audio-visual services provided by the State University of New York. It is with great pleasure that I thank all tbese agencies for their kind support.

The term statistical decay, statistical or thermodynamic equilibrium, thermalization, temperature, etc., have been used in nuclear physics since the introduction of the compound nucleus (CN) concept, and they are still used, perhaps even more frequently, in the context of intermediate- and high-energy heavy-ion reactions. Unfortunately, the increased popularity of these terms has not made them any clearer, and more often than not one encounters sweeping statements about the alleged statisticity of a nuclear process where the statistical'' connotation is a more apt description of the state of the speaker's mind than of the nuclear reaction. It is our goal, in this short set of lectures, to set at least some ideas straight on this broad and beautiful subject, on the one hand by clarifying some fundamental concepts, on the other by presenting some interesting applications to actual physical cases. 74 refs., 38 figs.