Textbook in PDF format The atomic nucleus, after having been a subject of interest for very few specialists for a long time, arose to importance after the first fission experiments by Otto Hahn and has since dominated politics, military strategy and energy supply on a world scale. This book depicts the most important historical milestones, the physical laws governing it and a broad range of engineering applications from reactor technology to the treatment of radioactive waste. The historic starts out with ancient concepts of the nature of the atom, followed by break-through experiments by the Curies, Thomson, Rutherford and others, after which a more and more refined theory of the nucleus on the basis of quantum theory evolved. After the discovery of radioactivity, the neutron and first fission, the structure of the nucleus was revealed and described by complementary models, like the liquid drop model or the optical model as well as the laws of radioactive decay. Finally nuclear reactions are put into perspective in comparison with other forces in nature