This book offers the first comprehensive and authoritative text on the history of physics in Italy’s industrial and financial capital, from the foundation of the University of Milan’s Institute of Physics in 1924 up to the early 1960s, when it moved to its current location. It includes biographies and a historical-scientific analysis of the main research topics investigated by world-renowned physicists such as Aldo Pontremoli, Giovanni Polvani, Giovanni Gentile Jr., Beppo Occhialini, and Piero Caldirola, highlighting their contributions to the development of Italian physics in a national and international context. Further, the book provides a historical perspective on the interplay of physics and politics in Italy during both the Fascist regime and the postwar reconstruction period, which led to the creation of the CISE (Centro Informazioni Studi Esperienze, a research center for applied nuclear physics, funded by private industries) in 1946, and of the Milan division of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) in 1951.

The thirtieth anniversary of the death of Beppo Occhialini, the cosmic-ray physicist associated among other things to the fundamental discoveries of the electron-positron pairs and of the pion thanks to his contributions to the development of the controlled cloud chamber and of new nuclear emulsions, is the occasion to publish his memoirs on the main events of his scientific life, which he dictated shortly before his death. This second edition of The Scientific Legacy of Beppo Occhialini takes us by the hand to appreciate the admiration if not the veneration he had for Patrick Blackett, the ironic rudeness of Lord Rutherford, or the troubled relationship with Cecil Powell. A particularly thorny aspect concerns the role played by some physicists during the Second World War and the way Occhialini elaborated the complex personal situations experienced by each of them. Occhialini’s memoirs are enriched by his short autobiography originally published as an encyclopedia entry in the 1970s. A selection of relevant historical studies and personal reminiscences mainly concerning his scientific activity before his coming to Milan is reproposed, together with some personal notes from friends and colleagues.

Young Researchers' meetings are held annually late in December since 2002 and they are organized by the Materials Research Society of Serbia. Originally conceived as seminars, since 2007 these meetings were transformed into conferences. The previous ten meetings featured presentations based on the research of various young scientists from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Slovenia, Brazil, Germany, United States of America, China, Poland, Belgium, Spain, Romania, United Kingdom, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Russia, Canada, etc. At the Conference, young researchers, students of doctoral, master and undergraduate studies, are given the opportunity to make an overview of their research into materials science and engineering through oral and poster presentations. As for the scientific content of the conference, we have given full priority to research topics that are currently considered as being on the frontier of the field. Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials, Synthesis and Engineering of Biomaterials, Application of Biomaterials, Theoretical Modeling of Materials and Advanced Methods for Synthesis and Processing present only some of those exciting topics that will be given the central stage and most attention during this meeting. The conference is free of charge and the participants are invited to submit their papers to the journals Tehnika – Novi Materijali and Hemijska Industrija. The Tenth Young Researchers' Conference Materials Science and Engineering was held in Belgrade, Serbia on December 21-23, 2011. It was organized by the Materials Research Society of Serbia and Institute of Technical Sciences of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

The present volume is a collection of reviews, essays and personal reminiscences on Occhialini's scientific life and work. Through these recollections the reader will also gain a vivid impression of the pioneering days of elementary particle physics when new detection methods emerged, like the triggered cloud chamber and nuclear emulsions - two techniques perfected by Occhialini - which made progress on comic ray physics possible in the first place.