This book treats the Stark effect of a hydrogenic atom or ion in a homogeneous electric field. It begins with a thorough review of previous work in this field since 1926. After the Schrödinger equation has been separated with respect to time dependence, centre of mass motion and internal motion, followed by a discussion of its eigenfunctions, the exact development in time of the probability amplitude for a decaying state is obtained by means of a formula analogous to the Fock-Krylov theorem. From this formula one obtains by means of the phase-integral approximation generated from a...