One service mathematics has rendered the 'Et moi, ..., si j'avait su comment en revenir, je n'y serais point alle.' human race. It has put common sense back Jules Verne where it belongs, on the topmost shelf next to the dusty canister labelled 'discarded n- sense'. The series is divergent; therefore we may be able to do something with it. Eric T. Bell O. Heaviside Mathematics is a tool for thought. A highly necessary tool in a world where both feedback and non linearities abound. Similarly, all kinds of parts of mathematics serve as tools for other parts and for other sciences. Applying a...

At the outset of the research leading to this book I held a position somewhere close to 'the standard Copenhagen interpretation' of QM. I was strongly attracted to, in particular, the philosophy of Niels Bohr. However, being aware of some of the problematic sides and ambiguities of his views and of new developments which have taken place in QM after his time, the main challenge would be to develop a more up to date version version of his approach and express it in a philosophically unobjectionable way. Traces of this original attitude can still be found in views I hold nowadays. For instance,...

E se non che di cid son vere prove A nd were it not for the true evidence Per piti e piti autori, che sa,ra. nno Of many authors who will be Per i miei versi nominati altrove, Mentioned elsewhere in my rhyme Non presterei alla penna 10. mana I would not lend my hand to the pen Per nota1' cid ch'io vidi, can temenza And describe my observations, for fear ehe non fosse do. altri casso e van 0; That they would be rejected and in vane; Mala lor chiara. e vera. esperienza But these authors' clear and true experience Mi assicura. nel dir, come persone Encourages me to report, since they Degne di...

E se non che di cid son vere prove A nd were it not for the true evidence Per piti e piti autori, che sa,ra. nno Of many authors who will be Per i miei versi nominati altrove, Mentioned elsewhere in my rhyme Non presterei alla penna 10. mana I would not lend my hand to the pen Per nota1' cid ch'io vidi, can temenza And describe my observations, for fear ehe non fosse do. altri casso e van 0; That they would be rejected and in vane; Mala lor chiara. e vera. esperienza But these authors' clear and true experience Mi assicura. nel dir, come persone Encourages me to report, since they Degne di...

This is the first detailed analysis of the complex and rich vegetation of the mountainous Korean peninsula, which ranges from arctic-alpine to subtropical in character, and in which more than 4500 vascular-plant species have been recorded, including many endemics. It covers both the north and south of the peninsula and, using both past and present records, identifies eight major biogeographic regions. It pays due attention to vegetation history, tracing this back to Miocene times and noting the effects of Pleistocene climatic fluctuations. More recently, detailed climatic variations from 50...

This volume contains reprints of 30 scientific articles which provide a record of some of the main advances in understanding which have lead us from Edwin Hall's discovery of the effect which bears his name to our current understanding of the quantum Hall efFect. In the process of deciding which articles were to be included in the collection and which were to be left out I became aware of the gaps in my knowledge of the relevant history, both very recent and more distant. The final choices are, I have no doubt, imperfect. I know that they reflect to too large a degree the aspects of, the...

The unexpected and therefore really amazing discovery of J. G. Bednorz and K. A. R32 Miiller, that certain oxide compounds enter a superconducting state at temperatures above 30 K pushed research on superconductivity into the limelight of science in general in a way that seemed reserved for a while for high-energy or particle physics only. The common interest was then even more aroused when subsequent work rather quickly established that in the same class of compounds (oxides), critical temperatures of superconductivity above R36 the boiling point of nitrogen could be achieved . It might...

In 1988 physicists and chemists commemorated the centenary of the discovery of the first liquid crystals. Fora long period after this discovery, although many significant results were found, liquid crystal research remained a marginal topic of condensed matter physics. The situation changed in the sixties. At that time the remarkable electro-optical properties of liquid crystals were recognized and found soon widespread application in numeric displays. From a more fundamental point of view, the interest in disordered systems. increased in general at the same time. Liquid crystals represented...

Interface and surface science have been important in the development of semicon- ductor physics right from the beginning on. Modern device concepts are not only based on p-n junctions, which are interfaces between regions containing different types of dopants, but take advantage of the electronic properties of semiconductor- insulator interfaces, heterojunctions between distinct semiconductors, and metal- semiconductor contacts. The latter ones stood almost at the very beginning of semi- conductor physics at the end of the last century. The rectifying properties of metal-semiconductor...