Prospect of hypernuclear physics

It is over thirty years since the discovery of hypernucleus in 1952. In the first two decades, emulsion experiments provided a unique source of information on hypernuclei. In the new stage of hypernuclear physics, the theoretical investigations are in mutually stimulating relation with the experimental developments. The present status of hypernuclear physics is outlined and the future prospect of this field is described on the basis of the works so far: new stage of hypernuclear physics; hypernuclei, baryon-baryon interaction and quark structures of baryons; hypernuclear physics as a general baryon many-body problem (three directions and three aspects); hypernuclear spectroscopy (production, structure and decay); multi-strange hypernuclei; from hypernuclear physics to flavor nuclear physics; the research project on 'Cluster structure of hypernuclei'. (Mori, K.)