Transmutation, natural and artificial

A study of the long history of transmutation in its many guises, from the ancient desire to change base metals into gold to the latter day conversion of matter at the nuclear level into energy - an even more precious yield. Transmutation examines the new territory opened for investigation by three Nobel Prize-winning papers, each of them a milestone in nuclear transmutation research. The discoveries of these three research teams, Rutherford and Soddy in 1903, Curie and Joliot in 1934, and Hahn and Strassmann in 1938, are placed in a broad historical, social and scientific perspective. The contemporary implications of these publications as well as future expectations in the field are thoroughly examined. A clear explanation is given of the differences between the reactor mode and the bomb mode of transmutation. The treatise is concluded with a discussion relating to the importance of nuclear transmutation as an essential worldwide source of energy. (author)