The effects of very high pressures on various physical systems are of great scientific interest and experiments in this field are an increasingly important activity. Literature on high pressure methods is however scarce and largely out of date. This book is the first to present a broad and thorough coverage of methods and applications. It also provides a technological overview of high-pressure research in the Soviet Union much of which has never been presented in Western literature. This book is intended for graduate students specialising in high pressure experiments in physics, chemistry, and biology, and for scientists coming to high pressure experimentation for the first time as well as those already working in the field.