The first edition of this work appeared almost thirty years ago, when, as we can see in retrospect, the study of the actinide elements was in its first bloom. Although the broad features of the chemistry of the actinide elements were by then quite well delineated, the treatment of the subject in the first edition was of necessity largely descriptive in nature. A detailed understanding of the chemical consequences of the characteristic presence of Sf electrons in most of the members of the actinide series was still for the future, and many of the systematic features of the actinide elements were only dimly apprehended. In the past thirty years all this has changed. The application of new spectroscopic techniques, which came into general use during this period, and new theoretical insights, which came from a better understanding of chemical bonding, inorganic chemistry, and solid state phenomena, were among the important factors that led to a great expansion and maturation in actinide element research and a large number of new and important findings. The first edition consisted of a serial description of the individual actinide elements, with a single chapter devoted to the six heaviest elements (lawrencium, the heaviest actinide, was yet to be discovered). Less than 15 % of the text was devoted to a consideration of the systematics of the actinide elements.

During the course of far-infrared investigations of inorganic and coordina tion compounds at Argonne National Laboratory in the years 1962-1966, it became apparent that no suitable book existed which correlated and dis cussed the important vibrations occurring in this region for these molecules. Early in 1967 the initial steps were taken to write such a book. Then, in 1968, an excellent text by Professor David M. Adams entitled Metal-Ligand and Related Vibrations was published. At this point serious consideration was given to discontinuing work on this book. However, upon examination of Adams' book, it became clear that the references covered only the period to 1966. This field of research is accelerating so tremendously, and the period 1966-1969 has seen so many new studies, that upon reconsideration it was decided to continue writing this text. The references in this book, particularly in the last several chapters, include many papers published in 1969. However, the proliferation of the far-infrared literature has made it impossible to present all the published material that has any bearing on the subject. Many titles do not pertain primarily to the far-infrared region as such, and some of this research has been omitted for this reason. Organometallic compounds have been neglected since the author feels that adequate reviews of that subject are available. Other studies may be missing simply because, owing to space limitations, only the more important researches could be considered. Of course, "importance" may, in this case, reflect the author's interest and prejudices."

Modular Chemistry: the First Steps In recent years, there has been increasing interest among chemists, physicists, materials scientists, biologists, engineers, and others in the assembly of well defmed, relatively large functional structures from repetitive units that themselves are molecules of some complexity. Using the dictionary defmition of a module (a detachable section, compartment, or unit with a specific purpose or function, and in electronics, a compact assembly functioning as a component of a larger unit) [1], we feel that this newly emerging field of endeavor could be called "modular chemistry" [2]. The NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Modular Chemistry that was held on September 9 to 12, 1995, at Aspen Lodge near Estes Park, Colorado, was meant to bring together prominent contributors to modular chemistry as it is being born, and to examine the associated birth pangs. It was concluded that although real, these are not nearly as bad as giving birth to a hedgehog tail first, and that the ultimate rewards were likely to be far more satisfying in terms of new ideas and enabling methodology. The level of excitement about the possibilities that are opening up for modular chemists, and also the challenge involved, are perhaps best documented by noting that the planned discussion periods at the workshop were as long as the oral presentation periods, and yet, each discussion ran over the allocated time.

The past decade has seen a dramatic acceleration of activity and interest in phenomena surrounding lanthanide and actinide organo metallic compounds. Around the world, active research in organo-f element synthesis, chemistry, catalysis, crystallography, and quantum chemistry is in progress. This activity has spanned a remarkably wide range of disciplines, from synthetic/mechanistic inorganic and organic chemistry to radiochemistry, catalytic chemistry, spectroscopy (vibra tional, optical, magnetic resonance, photoelectron, Mossbauer), X-ray and neutron diffraction structural analysis, as well as to crystal field and molecular orbital theoretical studies at the interface of chemistry and physics. These investigations have been motivated both by fundamental and applied goals. The evidence that f-element organo metallic compounds have unique chemical and physical properties which cannot be duplicated by organometallic compounds of d-block elements has suggested many new areas of endeavor and application. For these reasons, a great many scientists felt the need for some international forum devoted exclusively to the subject of lanthanide and actinide organometallic compounds. In September of 1978, a NATO Advanced Study Institute entitled, "Organometallics of the f-Elements," was held at the SOGESTA Conference Center near Urbino, Italy. It was the universal feeling of the partic ipants that this first meeting was a great success and that vital international communication and collaboration had been stimulated. The principal lectures at this Institute were published by Reidel in 1979 as part of the NATO ASI Monograph Series ("Organometallics of the f-Elements," T. J. Marks and R. D. Fischer, editors)."

The rate of advance in areas of science is seldom constant. Usually certain fields effloresce with activity because of the ealization that solutions are possible to long standing important problems. So it is now with asymmetric catalysis, a field which promises to change profoundly the strategic thinking of synthetic chemists. As this Report will show, reagents which can induce catalytic enantiocontrol of chemical transformations could represent the ultimate synthetic method. Nearly all synthetic strategies of complex molecules involve steps which require enantiocontrol and, in many cases, a specific catalytic transformation embodying enan tiocontrol has enormous advantages in terms of the rate and economy of the reaction. Because asymmetric catalysis is in a formative stage, workers with different backgrounds have joined the field. This Workshop had representatives with organometallic, organic, structural, kinetic, enzymatic, microbiological and industrial backgrounds. Each had his own perspective and this Report represents a consensus of this group of eleven people. The result is probably as compre hensive and balanced a view of the subject as is possible at present. It is hoped that those who have until now had but a glancing interest in asymmetric catalysis will find this Report a useful indication of its present state. We believe that asymmetric catalysis will have an increasing impact on the development of chemistry and will eventually dominate much of synthetic and industrial chemistry."

The past decade has witnessed a burst of activity and interest in the discovery and design of drugs that cleave DNA and RNA with sequence specificity. This interest stems from the potential of this class of compounds to be useful as therapeutics agents, in particular in the field of the treatment of cancer and viral diseases. Further, a side benefit of such studies is the discovery of novel mechanisms and uses of such agents as tools in the study of structure and function of nucleic acids. Up to now, no international meeting has been organized to recognize the immense progress that has been made in this field. The field of DNA and RNA cleavage by natural and chemical drugs now includes researchers working with rather dissimilar agents but with common underlying mechanisms of DNA damage. Until recently, these scientists were working in separate, apparently unrelated areas, such as the enediyne antibiotics and their synthetic analogues, bleomycin-metal complexes, metal-drug complexes, ribozymes and ribozyme mimics, and antisense and antigene oligonucleotides, etc. It is now clear that these research areas have in common strategies and targets. Researchers representing these areas worked together at this workshop where these common interests were discussed and scientific ideas modified and criticized. Such a workshop should lead to new research approaches and collaborative interactions, and is expected to significantly enhance the progress in the field of DNA and RNA cleavage.

One of the characteristics of the development of chemical science in the middle of the present century is the vigorous pro gress of the "third chemistry," which is often named now the chemistry of heteroorganic compounds. Then in the last decade, among specialists in this field there has been a marked increase in interest in heteroatomic organic derivatives of silicon, i. e. , heteroorganic silicon compounds. However, until recently this new class of chemical substances, which is extremely interesting theoretically and practically, has been without a single specialized monograph which systematizes and generalizes all progress in the heteroorganic chemistry of silicon. The first attempt in this direction was our book "Heteroorganic Compounds of Silicon" [42 (F), 17 (S) *], which appeared at the end of 1966 and was published as an English translation in the USA in 1969. However, as follows from its subtitle "Derivatives of Inorganic Elements," this mono graph could not cover the whole broad field of the chemistry of heteroorganic compounds of silicon. The main reason for this was above all the abundance and variety of original investigations of organosilicon derivatives of inorganic elements, which was un expected even to the authors themselves. As a result of this the planned length of the book compelled us to omit the sections on organosilicon compounds of phosphorus and sulfur, which had al ready been prepared for publication.

Phthalocyanines exhibit intriguing physic-chemical properties that render them important as a class of molecular functional materials. In addition to their tra- tional industrial applications as dyes and pigments, more recently their use as the organic semiconductors,photodynamictherapy medicines, non-linear optical ma- rials, catalysts for the photo oxidation, optical recording materials, and gas sensors attracts great research interests in these tetrapyrrole species. As manifested by the rapidly increasing number of related scienti?c publications in recent years, great progress has been made in the ?eld of advanced phthalocyaninematerials. Tremendous efforts have been paid toward the development of new phtha- cyanine molecular materials as well as toward their applications. Recent emphasis in both academic researches and technical ?eld has been put on the design and synthesis of novel phthalocyanine species, the structure-propertyrelationship, se- assembly properties, molecular electronics and opto-electronics, and dye-sensitized solarcells.Althoughexcellentreviewsandmonographsaboutphthalocyanineswere publishedseveralyearsago,it is time to providea surveyof a numberof newimp- tant developments in this fascinating area of phthalocyanine chemistry. The aim of this book is to bring both the academic and industrial researchers an easy way to the new progress of phthalocyanines made lately in related ?eld.

Silicon and silicon compounds have contributed decisively to the technical progress. Technical applications range from mass commodities to highly sophisticated special materials, from ceramics to polymers, from medicine to microelectronics. To keep pace with scientific and technical developments Germany and Austria have established national priority programs, strongly linked to each other as well as to some Swiss groups. At mid-term of the German program and the end of the first funding period of the Austrian program the results are summarized in this special edition of the journal Monatshefte fur Chemie/Chemical Monthly, giving an excellent overview of the current chemical (and partly physical) acitivites in the joint Austrian/German/Swiss program. The contributions cover topical and interdisciplinary developments in the following areas: * new phenomena in compounds with Si-Si bonds: transitions between molecular compounds and solids, cyclosilanes, polysilanes, silicides, amorphous hydrogenated silicon, * novel silicon-oxygen systems: functionalized sol-gel compounds, spherosiloxanes, siloxene, * compounds with low- and high-coordinated silicon, * new spectroscopic and analytical techniques for the characterization of molecular and polymeric silicon compounds.

This book is about compounds such as the boron hydrides and associated metal hydrides and alkyls which acquired the label 'electron deficient' when they were thought to contain too few valence electrons to hold together. Though they are now recognized as containing the numbers of bonding electrons appropriate for their structures, the term 'electron deficient' is still commonly applied to many substances that contain too few valence electrons to provide a pair for every pair of atoms close enough to be regarded as covalently bonded. The study of such substances has contributed much to chemistry. Techniques for the vacuum manipulation of volatile substances were devised specifically for their study; developments in valence theory resulted from considerations of their bonding; and the reactivity of several (for example, diborane and complex metal hydrides, lithium and aluminium alkyls) has made them valuable reagents. The purpose of this book is to provide an introduction to the chemistry of these fascinating compounds. The experimental and spectroscopic methods by which they can be studied are outlined, the various types of structure they adopt are described and profusely illustrated, and the relative merits of extended valence bond and simple molecular orbital treatments of their bonding are discussed, with as liberal use of diagrams and as limited recourse to the Greek alphabet as possible. A recurring theme is the importance attached to considerations of molecular sym metry. Their reactions are treated in sufficient detail to show whether these reflect any deficiency of electrons."

John Berry: Metal-Metal Bonds in Chains of Three or More Metal Atoms: From Homometallic to Heterometallic Chains.- Malcolm Chisholm: Electronically Coupled MM Quadruple Bonded Complexes of Molybdenum and Tungsten.- Philip Power: Transition Metal Complexes Stabilized by Bulky Terphenyl Ligands: Applications to Metal-Metal Bonded Compounds.- Gerard Parkin: Metal-Metal Bonding in Bridging Hydride and Alkyl Compounds.- Roland Fischer and Gernot Frenking: Structure and Bonding of Metal Rich Coordination Compounds Containing Low Valent Ga(I) and Zn(I) Ligands.- Mike Hill: Homocatenation of Metal and Metalloid Main Group Elements.- Constandinos A. Tsipis: Aromaticity/Antiaromaticity in "Bare" and ''Ligand-Stabilized'' Rings of Metal Atoms.- Alexander Boldyrev: All-Transition Metal Aromaticity and Antiaromaticity.

In this book, the problem of electron and hole transport is approached from the point of view that a coherent and consistent physical theory can be constructed for transport phenomena. Along the road readers will visit some exciting citadels in theoretical physics as the authors guide them through the strong and weak aspects of the various theoretical constructions. Our goal is to make clear the mutual coherence and to put each theoretical model in an appropriate perspective. The mere fact that so many partial solutions have been proposed to describe transport, be it in condensed matter, fluids, or gases, illustrates that we are entering a world of physics with a rich variety of phenomena. Theoretical physics always seeks to provide a unifying picture. By presenting this tour of many very inventive attempts to build such a picture, it is hoped that the reader will be inspired and encouraged to help find the unifying principle behind the many faces of transport.

"Nanotechnology" is now very well known as one of the most important key technologies in science and industry. In the field of material science and engineering, nanoparticles should be unit materials, as well as atoms and molecules, to build ceramics, devices, catalysts, and machines, and the "nanoparticle technology" is thus attracting. This novel technology includes various methodologies for nanoparticles: preparation, surface-modification via chemical and/or physical treatments, immobilization and arrangement on supports or substrates, to achieve high performance for luminescence properties in light emitting devices, and high efficiency for catalytic and photocatalytic reactions in chemical synthesis, chemical decomposition, and artificial photosynthesis, etc. It should be needless to say that the preparation of nanoparticles, having precisely controlled particle size, size distribution, chemical composition, and surface properties, is essentially important to realize "true nanoparticle technology". This book, written by Dr. Dibyendu Ganguli and Dr. Munia Ganguli, deals with the preparation methodologies for inorganic nanoparticles using macro- and microemulsions as "microreactor". There are several differences between these two emulsions, in addition to water droplet size: thermodynamic stability, and fusion-redispersion dynamics of the droplets. The properties of the nanoparticles prepared in these emulsion systems are seriously influenced and controlled by the selection of dynamic and static conditions.

The present book covers different aspects of proton conduction: the first part describes chemical and physical parameters necessary for fast proton conduction and proposes a classification of different kinds of proton conductors. Comparison is made with other hydrogen containing materials (metals, graphites). The importance of partial water pressure, the role of defects and surface phenomena are discussed. The second part treats the chemistry, structures and electrical properties of typical materials from hydrogen bronzes to polymers via ice, hydroxides, acid sulphates, layer hydrates, clays, gels and porous or fractal media. The third part discusses the methods concerning the proton dynamics from local to macroscopic scale. The fourth part deals with conductivity mechanisms and the last one presents typical applications: electrochemical systems for production or energy storage and microionic devices.

When this book was first conceived as a project the expanding interest in the clinical use of platinum and gold complexes made a survey of the relevant biological properties of metal complexes timely and appropriate. This timeliness has not diminished during the gestation and final publica tion of the manuscript. The introduction contains an explanation of the layout and approach to the book, which I wrote as an overall survey of the wide variety of biological properties of metal complexes. Hopefully, the reader will see the parallels in mechanisms and behavior, even in different organisms. The writing was considerably helped by the enthusiasm and confidence (totally unearned on my part) in the project of Professor Brian James and lowe him my special thanks. I also owe a great debt of gratitude to my colleagues, and especially to Eucler Paniago, of the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, for their comprehension and for the initial leave of absence which allowed me to begin the project. To those who read some or all of the manuscript and made suggestions, Bernhard Lippert, Kirsten Skov, and Tom Tritton, as well as the editor's reviewer I am also grateful. As usual, the final responsibility for errors or otherwise rests with the author."

The progress of materials science depends on the development of novel materials and the development of novel experimental techniques. The research on graphite intercalation compounds combines both aspects: new compounds with strikingly new and anisotropic properties have been synthesized and analyzed during the past couple of years by means of state-of-the-art experimental methods. At the same time, the preparation of the compounds already known has improved con siderably, giving increased reliability and reproducibility of the experimental results. The high quality experimental data now available have stimulated theo retical work. Moreover, the theoretical work has had a great impact on further experimental studies, with the effect of a much improved understanding of this class of materials. This volume is dedicated to a thorough description of all relevant experimen tal and theoretical aspects of the structural and dynamical properties of graphite intercalation compounds. Because of the large number of topics, a second vol ume, which is now in preparation, will follow and will treat the electronic, transport, magnetic, and optical properties. The second volume will also contain a chapter on applications of graphite intercalation compounds. There have been a number of reviews written on selected aspects of these compounds in various journals and conference proceedings during the last couple of years, but this is the first comprehensive review since the thorough overview provided by M.S. Dresselhaus and G. Dresselhaus appeared ten years ago."

V. I. MATKOVICH During the meeting of the International Symposium on Boron held in October, 1972 in Tbilisi, U.S.S.R., the idea was proposed to assemble a review of boron and refractory borides by the specialists present. The advantages of such a work were immediately apparent. Such diverse applications of borides as in protective armor, nuclear reactors, coat ings, reinforcement, etc. can hardly all be presented in sufficient detail by a single author. On the other hand it was also recognized that with so much specialization, some areas of interest may not be covered. Within the last decade or two a number of areas have been developed in which the use of refractory borides is growing and improvements are being actively explored. Thus, a number of borides have considerable potential as reinforcing material for plastics or light metals, though only boron fibers have been firmly established up to the present. Ap plication of flakes and films for two-dimensional reinforcement appears attractive, although the high cost of materials and development repre sents a considerable barrier. A number of borides have been used to manufacture lightweight protec tive armor. In this area relatively fast changes seem to be taking place as improvements in performance and weight are made. Boron carbide has found considerable use in this application and new developments exploit the light weight of beryllium borides."

As natural minerals, silica and silicates constitute by far the largest part of the earth's crust and mantle. They are equally important as raw materials and as mass produced items. For this reason they have been the subject of scientific research by geoscientists as well as by applied scientists in cement, ceramic, glass, and other industries. Moreover, intensive fun damental research on silicates has been carried out for many years because silicates are, due to their enormous variability, ideally suited for the study of general chemical and crystallographic principles. Several excellent books on mineralogy and cement, ceramics, glass, etc. give brief, usually descriptive synopses of the structure of silicates, but do not contain detailed discussions of their structural chemistry. A number of monographs on special groups of silicates, such as the micas and clay min erals, amphiboles, feldspars, and zeolites have been published which con tain more crystal chemical information. However, no modern text has been published which is devoted to the structural chemistry of silicates as a whole. Within the last 2 decades experimental and theoretical methods have been so much improved to the extent that not only have a large number of silicate structures been accurately determined, but also a better under standing has been obtained of the correlation between the chemical composition of a silicate and its structure. Therefore, the time has been reached when a modern review of the structural chemistry of silicates has become necessary."

Superalloys are unique high-temperature materials used in gas turbine engines, which display excellent resistance to mechanical and chemical degradation. This book presents the underlying metallurgical principles which have guided their development and practical aspects of component design and fabrication from an engineering standpoint. The topics of alloy design, process development, component engineering, lifetime estimation and materials behaviour are described, with emphasis on critical components such as turbine blading and discs. The first introductory text on this class of materials, it will provide a strong grounding for those studying physical metallurgy at the advanced level, as well as practising engineers. Included at the end of each chapter are exercises designed to test the reader's understanding of the underlying principles presented. Solutions for instructors and additional resources are available at www.cambridge.org/9780521859042.

Phase transitions in minerals are of interest to a wide spectrum of scientists - geolo- gists, mineralogists, solid state chemists, and physicists. We have now reached the point where mean field theory or Landau Theory of phase transitions as a function of temperature, pressure, or chemical composition can be usefully applied to natural materials, resulting in an improved understanding of the thermodynamics of signifi- cant constituents of the earth. Given the chemical complexity of so many silicate solid solutions, there are two distinct approaches to the problems posed by common minerals: one is to con- centrate on model compounds which could be synthetic analogs or natural end- members; the other is to work on typical minerals, with all the disorder and inhomogeneity that this implies. Model compounds provide the elements needed to build up a realistic understanding of the thermodynamic behavior of natural inor- ganic materials in all their complexity. In the first part of the book, a number of papers are devoted to structural phase transitions in quartz, Na-and Ca-feldspars, MgSi0 perovskite, and PbI , where Landau Theory and lattice and molecular 3 2 dynamics have been used to explain or predict thermodynamic behavior. A different thermodynamic approach has been used to understand phase separation and atomic ordering in solid solutions such as olivines, pyroxenes, rhombohedral carbonates and oxides. E. Salje (Chapter 1) applies the Landau Theory for the second-order phase transi- tion to the feldspar end-members albite, NaAlSi0 , and anorthite, CaAlSi0 .

The activation of carbon dioxide by transition metal complexes has been extensively studied. both experimentally and theoretically. 1 Central reactions in this chemistry are the insertion of C02 into M-X bonds. where X = H. C. 0. and N. (eq. 1-4). We are presently investigating the mechanistic aspects of these reaction processes and will herein deSCribe our current level of understanding. Comparisons of the pathway of the carbon-carbon bond fonning process in transition metal chemistry with the well known analogous chemistry involving organolithium reagents will be presented. Furthermore. the role of these reaction types in both homogeneous and heterogenous catalytic processes leading to useful chemicals will be elaborated. _OM> (1) lMt-H + ~ lMlopi _OM> (2) [Mt-R + C0. 2 [M]0. 2CR _OM> (3) [Mt-OR+ ~ [M]0. 2COR _OM> (4) [Mt-NR2 + C0. 2 [M]~CNR2 Insertion of C02 into the Metal-Hydride Bond. The reaction of anionic group 6 (Cr. Mo. W) transition metal hydrides with carbon dioxide to afford metalloformates occurs readlly at ambient temperature and 2 reduced pressures of carbon dioxide. This insertion process is referred to the normal pathway (Scheme 1). There are no documented cases of C02 insertion into the metal hydride bond to provide the alternative. metallocarboxylic acid. isomer (referred in Scheme 1 as abnormal). 3 Recent theoretical studies ascribe this preference to an unfavorable electrostatic interaction and poorer orbital overlap in the latter pro 4 cess. Nevertheless.

Over the past several decades, vanadium has increasingly attracted the interest of biologists and chemists. The discovery by Henze in 1911 that certain marine ascidians accumulate the metal in their blood cells in unusually large quantities has done much to stimulate research on the role of vanadium in biology. In the intervening years, a large number of studies have been carried out to investigate the toxicity of vanadium in higher animals and to determine whether it is an essential trace element. That vanadium is a required element for a few selected organisms is now well established. Whether vanadium is essential for humans remains unclear although evidence increasingly suggests that it probably is. The discovery by Cantley in 1977 that vanadate is a potent inhibitor of ATPases lead to numerous studies of the inhibitory and stimulatory effects of vanadium on phosphate metabolizing enzymes. As a consequence vanadates are now routinely used as probes to investigate the mechanisms of such enzymes. Our understanding of vanadium in these systems has been further enhanced by the work of Tracy and Gresser which has shown striking parallels between the chemistry of vanadates and phosphates and their biological compounds. The observation by Shechter and Karlish, and Dubyak and Kleinzeller in 1980 that vanadate is an insulin mimetic agent has opened a new area of research dealing with the hormonal effects of vanadium. The first vanadium containing enzyme, a bromoperoxidase from the marine alga Ascophyllum nodosum, was isolated in 1984 by Viltner.

The revolutionary impetus of the NMR methods in organic chemistry has parallels in the field of boron chemistry. lIB NMR spectroscopy provided a basis for the elucida tion of structures and reactions of the boron hydrides. However, although many studies have been carried out with the higher boranes, carboranes, metalloboranes, etc., and although certain patterns have emerged, the correlation between the observed chemical shift and the assigned structural unit is still not fully understood. Therefore, predictions in this area are still rather limited, and semiquantitative interpretations are not yet pos sible. Several years ago Eaton and Lipscomb sUpImarized the status in this field in their book "NMR Studies of Boron Hydrides and Related Compounds" and a plethora of new data has accumulated since then. The book also contained material on simple bo rane derivatives, but they were not discussed in any detail. On the other hand many systematic studies, both synthetic and spectroscopic, have been conducted on these simple boron materials in the last decade. Thus a large amount of NMR information is available, not only on lIB but also on 1 H, 1 3 C, and 14 N. However, this information is widely scattered in the literature, and often the data are not discussed at all. It see med appropriate, therefore, to collect these data and to present them in one volume."

Metal-Ligand Interactions - Structure and Reactivity emphasizes the experimental determination of structure and dynamics, supported by the theoretical and computational approaches needed to establish the concepts and guide the experiments. Leading experts present masterly surveys of: clusters, inorganic complexes, surfaces, catalysis, ab initio theory, density functional theory, semiempirical methods, and dynamics. Besides the presentations of the fields of study themselves, the papers also bring out those aspects that impinge on, or could benefit from, progress in other disciplines. Refined in the fire of an interactive and stimulating conference, the papers presented here represent the state of the art of current research.

Since the discovery of high temperature superconductivity, a tidal wave of res earch into the newly found phenomena took off in several directions. The theor ists began to examine BSC and its implications. Mostly everyone was syn thesizing materials.The experimentalists were studying relations among electri cal and magnetic properties while the pure materials scientists began to exam ine the microstructures, and the relations of processing to one or two measurab le parameters. The engineering and systems community were preparing real conductors and designing the needed components. Each of the communities was holding between two and three annual meetings to discuss most recent re sults. As work progressed, and promised applications did not materialize, it became apparent to us that the physics and materials science communities needed to establish solid communication lines. This NATO Advanced Study Institute was thus conceived and organized. This was a two week summer school, which 15 internationally acclaimed physicists and material scientists were invited to par ticipate in the capacity of Lecturers. Eighty students, from 12 different countries, also attended."