An up-to-date textbook of solar physics is presented. The solar structure and processes, and the interior are described along with the photosphere, the chromosphere, and the corona. The strongest Fraunhofer lines, visible coronal lines, and coronal UV, XUV, and X-ray lines are listed.

Observational data derived from the world’s largest solar telescopes are correlated with theoretical discussions in nuclear and atomic physics by contributors representing a wide range of interests in solar research.

A new approximate method is developed for calculating the temperature distribution in an atmosphere where local mechanical-energy dissipation is balanced by local net radiative loss in one or more spectral lines for which the atmosphere is optically thick. The method uncouples the equations of radiative transfer for the individual spectral lines from the energy-conservation equation and from each other. This permits a solution of each individual transfer equation for the radiation field in each line. These results, used in the energy-conservation equation, yield the temperature distribution if the optical depth ratio of the spectral lines at each point is known. The method is applied to selected strong resonance lines in the solar chromosphere.

Summaries are given of research in the following fields: upper atmosphere physics, microwave physics, space physics, terrestrial sciences, optical physics, data sciences, meteorology, solid state, aerospace instrumentation.

Much of the excitement in modern Solar Physics has come from the realisation that the Sun is a plasma and that this plasma is interacting with the magnetic field in a wide variety of subtle ways. As well as being of great interest in their own right the observed plasma phenomena on the Sun are of much wider importance, since they reveal to us details of basic phenomena that are expected to be occurring throughout the universe. It was with this in mind that 173 solar physicists from 17 countries gathered together in Bangalore with an air of anticipation. We were not disappointed as we received the warmest of welcomes from our graceful and charming host,Vinod Krishan. She and her colleagues worked tirelessly to make our stay a most memorable one and to ensure that the meeting ran with calm and efficiency. In addition to being stimulated by an excellent series of talks on the up-to-the minute advances in our subject, it was a pleasure to make new friendships from so many countries and to learn, in particular, of the Solar Physics being done in India which has a great tradition and is of a high standard. Furthermore, we enjoyed hearing about Indian culture and appreciating its beauty, especially on our day's tour into the countryside to visit some Hindu and Jain temples.