Preface
T he 1961 N e u t r on Physics Symposium, sponsored by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the American Nuclear Society, b r o u g ht together many of those who are active today in neutron physics research. T he prepared addresses, collected here in full , constitute a review and a s u m m a ry of recent results in this field; portions of the discussion stimulated by these papers are included here.
Attendance at the meeting was by open invitation to interested technical people; the announcement was primarily through A N S channels. T he papers on the program were presented by invitation;
the n u m b er of speakers was limited by the time available for the meeting.
T he scope of the technical discussion was intended to include key areas of research in neutron and reactor physics while recognizing that the present breadth of the field virtually precludes the possibility of complete coverage in one symposium. T he remarks of Dr.
H . Hurwitz extended the discussion to the general area of energy sources, surveying the fusion problem. T he papers here presented, i n most cases originally transcribed from tape recordings, have been reviewed by the authors. T h ey were encouraged to correct rather than rewrite the manuscripts which they received; the result is a generally informal style which I believe is more readable than usual textbook or periodical prose.
T he idea for the symposium was stimulated by the i m m i n e nt dedication at RPI of one of the country's major facilities for neutron physics research. T h is linear accelerator project, described in one of the present papers, is supported by the Atomic Energy C o m- mission. I n addition to expressing our appreciation of this support, we wish to acknowledge our debt of gratitude to the personnel of the Reactor Development Branch and the N ew York Operations Office; their difficul t and often thankless administrative role is vital to progress in this field of technical development. T he symposium was arranged by a committee consisting of E. R. Gaerttner
vii
vii i PREFACE
(Chairman), P. B. Daitch, R. Ehrlich, N o r m an Francis, H e n ry Hurwitz, and V. L . Parsegian. Chairmen of the formal sessions were R. Ehrlich, M . L . Yeater, and Ir a F. Zartman. T a pe recordings of the talks were reviewed by D. B. Ebeoglu, M . J. Ohanian, and C. R. Pierce. We are indebted to H. C. Mattice and to the public relations office of the Institute for working out the mechanics of the meeting.
Troy, New York April, 1962
M . L . YEATER
