An introduction to the school “Rewriting Nuclear Physics Textbooks: one step forward” and future perspectives

Abstract

The third edition of the school “Rewriting Nuclear Physics Textbooks: one step forward” was devoted to the societal impact of nuclear physics. One of the main beneficiaries in this area is medicine. From magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to the different types of radiation used in hospitals, nuclear physics is omnipresent. The development of new radioisotope production techniques, therapy of certain cancers with ions and hadron therapy are among the subjects undergoing rapid development. Many other fields benefit from the techniques of nuclear physics: archaeometry, the non-destructive investigation of packages or containers at customs, the study of the pollution of our environment, etc. The school was completed by the presentation of some basic research topics: the contribution of cold and ultra-cold neutrons to the study of the lifetime and electric dipole moment of the neutron, the measurement of the proton charge radius via the study of muonic atoms, the investigation of the extremes of neutron richness in nuclei, and finally, the quest for traces of 60Ni in sediments in order to study the history of supernova explosions in our universe. The number and quality of projects in a scientific field gives a measure of its future. For nuclear physics, the number of accelerators under construction in the world attests to the robustness and the future of the field. In the last part of the article, I briefly recall the specifics of nuclear physics accelerators under construction throughout the world. In my introductory presentation at the school, I covered all of these topics by pointing out the contributions of nuclear physics. This article closely follows this presentation.