基本粒子が発見されるよりずっと以前の19世紀末にジョセフ＝ジョン・トムソンによって電子が発見されて以来、原子の性質が詳しくわからない時期から始まっていた原子物理学。これまでの歴史的歩みや、私たちの原子核に対する理解について、科学啓蒙書の著者として著名なフランク・クローズが明らかにします。また、この領域が天体物理学から医学に及ぶまで、諸分野に広く応用されている状況にも言及します。
　　

• Provides the historical development, key ideas, and applications of nuclear physics in a nutshell
• Explores exciting new research in the field, with sections on exotic nuclei and the attempts to make superheavy elements
• Describes key applications of nuclear physics, especially its importance in medicine through MRI and PET scans
• Forms a companion volume to Particle Physics: A Very Short Introduction (ISBN: 9780192804341) by the same author

 
Nuclear physics began long before the identification of fundamental particles, with J. J. Thomson's discovery of the electron at the end of the 19th century, which implied the existence of a positive charge in the atom to make it neutral. In this Very Short Introduction Frank Close gives an account of how this area of physics has progressed, including the recognition of how heavy nuclei are built up in the cores of stars and in supernovae, the identification of quarks and gluons, and the development of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). Exploring key concepts such as the stability of different configurations of protons and neutrons in nuclei, Frank Close shows how nuclear physics brings the physics of the stars to Earth and provides us with important applications, particularly in medicine.