Study of collisions among electrons, ions and atoms has turned into a spectroscopy as investigators use greater energy ranges, finer resolution and more versatile theory. Among topics of current interest are ionic excitations, fine structure in ion‐atom scattering and the role of excited particles in collisions.
THE LEADING ROLE OF atomic‐interaction physics in the development of modern physics was enshrined during the first four decades of this century. Since then, though, the energy range available for study has spread by a factor of a million in both directions, from cryophysics to BeV accelerators. Since the middle fifties the pressure of new activity in atomic collisions has increased as if the shock front originally generated by atomic physics were reflected inward from yet uncharted boundaries. There are many gauges of this increase of activity. One of the most sensitive is the conferences on the physics of electronic and atomic collisions. The next one of the series will be in Leningrad in 1967. The last was in Quebec City last August and was attended by nearly 500 practitioners from all over the world.
With strong magnetic fields and intense lasers or pulsed electric currents, physicists can reconstruct the conditions inside astrophysical objects and create nuclear-fusion reactors.
A crude device for quantification shows how diverse aspects of distantly related organisms reflect the interplay of the same underlying physical factors.
