Jet physics and QCD tests in the UA1 experiment at the CERN proton-antiproton collider

This is a brief review of the results of the UA1 Collaboration for jet physics at the CERN proton-antiproton Collider. Data on inclusive jet production and on two-and three-jet production are confronted with perturbative QCD predictions over a large range of x and Q/sup 2/, directly related to the dynamics of gluons, proven to be massless, and quarks, proven to be point-like. The precision to which QCD are tested by experiments is today limited by systematics, both in the experiments (jet energy scale) and in the theory (momentum transfer scale). Moreover, non-perturbative effects in the jet fragmentation and in the dynamics of the underlying even somehow obscure the direct identification of jets with partons. For more precise tests of QCD we need higher-order QCD corrections, and more segmented, compensating, and hermetic calorimeters