Fixed target experiments with heavy ions at CERN

A concise review of recent results from CERN experiments with relativistic ion beams, from oxygen and sulphur up to lead, at 160 and 200 GeV/c/N, is presented. Both leptonic and hadronic signals are reviewed. Two results from leptonic signals look very promising. One is an excess (over conventional expectations) in the invariant mass spectrum of electron pairs produced in nuclear collisions, for masses up to 1.5 GeV. Another is a strong psi resonance suppression, observed in central lead-lead collisions. These effects could possibly indicate the importance of partonic degrees of freedom, and may be a harbinger of the quark-gluon plasma creation. The hadronic signals concern the nuclear stopping power, transverse mass spectra and their relation to temperature, strange particle production and particle source sizes, as determined by the interferometric method. (author)