This book tells the story of the Swiss Institute for Nuclear Research (SIN). The institute was founded in 1968 and became part of the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in 1988. Its founding occurred at a time when physics was generally considered the key discipline for technological and social development. This step was unusual for a small country like Switzerland and showed courage and foresight. Equally unusual were the accomplishments of SIN, compared with similar institutes in the rest of the world, as well as its influence on Swiss, and partially also on international politics of science. That this story is now available in a widely understandable form is due to the efforts of some physicists, who took the initiative as long as contemporary witnesses could still be questioned. As is usually the case, official documents always show just an excerpt of what really happened. An intimate portrayal of people who contributed to success requires personal memories. This text relies on both sources. In addition, the events are illustrated with numerous photos.

Cancer Treatment, Radiation Oncology, PSI, Pencil Beam Scanning, History of Medicine Modern proton therapy is saving the lives of more and more children and adults with difficult-to-treat cancers. The spectacular rise of proton therapy might never have happened if it were not for the pioneering work of the Paul Scherrer Institute – a Swiss centre founded to explore physics and the nature of matter, but which turned its understanding of basic science into applications that would benefit mankind. This is the place that pioneered a technique of delivering protons to tumours called pencil beam scanning (also known as spot scanning) – now used in nearly every proton therapy centre in the world. It also developed techniques to more accurately deliver the correct proton dose to every part of a tumour – again, now used globally. This book is for anyone with an interest in scientists’ continual quest to find out more. It tells the remarkable story, spanning half a century, of the men and women at the Paul Scherrer Institute’s Center for Proton Therapy who had the knowledge, imagination and perseverance to bring their ideas to fruition. It demonstrates, perhaps most of all, just what can be achieved from close collaboration between physicians and scientists – bringing all the powers of physics to bear in the fight against cancer. "For a field to grow, and for the community of patients to be best served, it’s necessary to learn, grow, improve and share, the way it has been done at PSI. This book provides a look at that extremely important perspective. I, for one, read it with great pleasure." (Jay Flanz, Project Director and Technical Director of the Burr Proton Therapy Center, Massachusetts General Hospital)

Short book on the history and sociology of science surrounding the discovery of high-temperature superconductivity.

The International School of Fusion Reactor Technology started its courses 15 years ago and since then has mantained a biennial pace. Generally, each course has developed the subject which was announced in advance at the closing of the previous course. The subject to which the present proceedings refer was chosen in violation of that rule so as to satisfy the recent and diffuse interest in cold fusion among the main European laboratories involved in controlled thermonuclear research (CTR). In the second half of 1986 we started to prepare a workshop aimed at assessing the state of the art and possibly of the perspectives of muon- catalyzed fusion. Research in this field has recently produced exciting experimental results open to important practical applications. We thought it worthwhile to consider also the beneficial effects and problems of the polarization ofthe nuclei in both cold and thermonuclear fusion. In preparing the 8th Course on Fusion Reactor Technology, it was necessary to abandon the traditional course format because the influence of the workshop procedure was inevitable: the participants were roughly equally divided into experts in cold fusion and experts in thermonuclear fusion. The course had largely an interdisciplinary character as many disciplines were involved: atomic and molecular physics, nuclear physics, accelerator technology, system analysis, etc. Plasma physics was excluded, with a sigh of relief from the experts in thermonuclear fusion.