Physics and Chemistry of Fission. Vol. I. Proceedings of the Symposium on Physics and Chemistry of Fission

In recognition of recent significant developments in nuclear fission, the International Atomic Energy Agency convened this first International Symposium on the Physics and Chemistry of Fission at Salzburg, Austria, from 22 to 26 March, 1965. Nearly 200 delegates from 29 countries and 5 international organizations participated in the Symposium in which all aspects of the fission process and its products were considered. Each of the nine technical sessions of the Symposium was opened with a survey paper intended to provide an up-to-date picture of the current status of the session topic. Contributed original papers were then presented during the remainder of each session. The first two sessions were concerned with dynamics in the neighbourhood of the saddle point and the descent from saddle point to scission point, and the interpretation of angular distribution and fission cross-section data. The remaining seven sessions were concerned largely with experimental studies of post-scission phenomena. These sessions were marked by reports of truly impressive advances in new experimental techniques such as solid-state detectors in conjunction with ultra-fast time-of-flight and coincidence methods, on-line mass separators, detailed studies of nuclear gamma rays, X-rays and conversion electrons, and the increasing use of big computers for ever more elaborate (and, it is to be hoped, more accurate) data processing and analysis. It was clear at the Salzburg Symposium that the long-standing gap between empirical knowledge and theoretical understanding of fission is still widening. The fission theorists nevertheless have welcomed this flood of new information as additional material for a systematic approach that must ultimately lead to fuller theoretical understanding of the process of nuclear fission