bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Jersey
Authors: Grace William
Published: November 2023

Jersey’s population of 89,300 includes some 12,000 professionally trained workers within the finance industry, accounting for nearly 60% of GDP. The size of Jersey’s financial services industry is illustrated by the most recent quarterly report issued by Jersey Finance, the representative trade body for the financial services industry in Jersey, which records bank deposits of some GBP 219.5bn and the value of collective investment funds at some GBP 221bn. Prior to 1998, there was no overriding regulatory framework in place in Jersey. Regulatory and supervisory functions in Jersey were undertaken by the Financial Services Department (FSD), the executive arm of the Finance and Economics Committee (Committee) of the States of Jersey (NB the States is Jersey’s Parliament). The FSD’s powers were complemented by discrete pieces of legislation in relation to some financial services. As Jersey experienced continued financial growth in the 1990s, it became clear that a regulatory framework under an independent regulator needed to be implemented in order to guarantee wide-ranging and effective supervision of the financial services industry.
Latvia
Authors: Lisenoka Eleonora , Pikelis Egons
Published: November 2023

There are currently 21 banks and four branch offices of foreign banks providing banking services in the Republic of Latvia, as well as credit institutions or their branch offices registered in other countries of the European Economic Area which have filed applications with the Financial and Capital Markets Commission to provide services in Latvia. There are also three electronic money institutions and three money market funds registered with the Bank of Latvia. According to data from the Financial and Capital Markets Commission, at the end of 2006, 68.8% of the paid-up share capital of Latvian banks was owned by foreign shareholders. Foreign shareholders held more than 50% of the paid-up share capital in 11 banks.
Lithuania
Authors: Reciunas Gedminas , Stasevicius Giedrius
Published: November 2023

From the restoration of independence on 11 March 1990, Lithuania started to create a private, owner- ship-based financial services industry. The current financial market consisting of the three main sectors—banking, capital markets and insurance—was traditionally dominated by banking, that is, the activities of banks and the credit market played a significant role in comparison to those of the capital markets. However, the past few years have seen a remarkable growth in the Lithuanian economy as well as successful pension and other legislative reforms which have allowed the capital markets to become an increasingly important part of the Lithuanian financial industry.
Republic of Moldova
Authors: Burac Victor
Published: November 2023

The financial services market is an important area of development of the Republic of Moldova (the RM), therefore the regulation of this market is of major interest to the RM’s public regulatory bodies. Such regulation is provided for through a wide range of normative acts, which may be classified as primary legislation (which includes laws (constitutional, organic and ordinary) and decisions approved by the legislative authority—the Parliament of Moldova (the PoM), as well as the decisions of the executive authority—the decrees of the President and the decisions of the government of Moldova (the GoM)); and subordinate legislation (which includes normative acts approved and enacted by central public administration authorities such as the Ministry of Finance (the MF), National Bank of Moldova (the NBM) and the National Commission on Financial Market (the NCFM)). The extent of the regulatory powers of the aforementioned public authorities is described at paras 27.77–27.124 below.
Montenegro
Authors: Adamovic Jelena
Published: November 2023

Montenegro was one of the six Republics that formed the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY). After the breakdown of SFRY in 1991, Serbia and Montenegro formed a new federal state—the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY). Political turmoil and isolation from the world during the 1990s have led to the severe collapse of the FRY economy. For this reason the general trend of liberalization of the economy during the early stages of the transition towards a market economy experienced many obstacles. Until the 1990s, most companies in Montenegro were organized as public (state-owned). Their privatization started in 1989, in accordance with the federal laws existing at the time. The Montenegrin Parliament enacted the Montenegrin Privatization Law in June 1996. Amendments to this Law were enacted in February 1999 and are still in force. In compliance with these amendments, the privatization process was undertaken by the issue of free privatization vouchers under the Mass Voucher Privatization (MVP) programme and through direct sale via public tenders, auctions and offers to strategic investors. MVP enabled all adult citizens to become owners and to trade with vouchers and it led towards the development of the capital market and financial institutions and to a more efficient economy.
Poland
Authors: Namiotkiewicz Grzegorz , Stosio Andrzej
Published: November 2023

The Polish financial services market is regulated around three fundamental areas: banking services market, capital market and insurance market (including the pension insurance market). Pursuant to new regulations, the structure of the Polish financial market was reorganized. The overall purpose of the supervisory structures and mechanisms was the protection of interests of the clients who entrusted their moneys to financial institutions. For the purposes of transparency and uniformity, the Polish financial market is supervised by one supervisory authority common for banking, insurance and financial sectors. The process of integration of financial supervision, after several years of debate, began in 2002 through the integration of the insurance and pension markets. The specialized supervisory authorities—the State Office for Insurance Supervision and the Office for Supervision over Pension Funds—were abolished and the Insurance and Pension Funds Supervisory Commission (KNUiFE) was created.
Russia
Authors: Gutbrod Max , Kushner Victoria
Published: November 2023

The financial services industry in Russia has developed substantially in recent years. The rapid growth of the Russian economy, largely determined by a favourable situation in the world markets for raw materials (oil, metals) is one of the key factors for the industry growth. The Russian government’s tax and currency liberalization efforts have improved the investment environment of the industry. Another source is the growing trust of international investors in Russia, its economy and its market, which is reflected in the fact that Russia has obtained international investment-grade credit ratings. As at February 2008, the total number of institutional and private investors trading on the Russian stock exchanges exceeded 400,000. For comparison purposes, as at 18 October 2006 the number of investors was 234,628. However, the sector still experiences some of the shortcomings typical for a developing economy. The industry is underdeveloped and afflicted by a number of ongoing structural and cultural flaws that need to be remedied before it can develop further and reach a stage of maturity.
Spain
Authors: Mata Fernando de la , Tarragona Laia
Published: November 2023

The past 20 years have been of crucial importance for the regulatory framework of Spain’s financial serv- ices industry. The Spanish financial system has become integrated into the international financial mar- kets through a series of regulatory reforms, allowing it to become more liberalized, efficient and flexible. One of the key factors contributing to this internationalization was undoubtedly Spain’s admission to the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1986 and subsequently the implementation of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). The construction of the single market ensured that some crucial reforms in Spain became compulsory. Spain has become increasingly attractive for foreign capital, which has triggered an economic boom in the country. In addition, being a part of the euro area has been another step towards economic growth. Membership of the EMU has led to fewer transaction costs and related expenses for companies with international operations, facilitated cross-border trade in Europe and also increased the opportunities for foreign investors in the member states ‘ national markets.
Arab Republic of Egypt
Authors: Ross Timothy N
Published: November 2023

In relation to the banking sector, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) is the regulator in respect of all banking operations. The CBE is an independent public sector entity and reports directly to the President of the Republic. The Egyptian Insurance Supervisory Authority (EISA) is the main regulatory authority over the insurance sector while the Higher Insurance Council sets out the general insurance policy directives as well as the means to implement them. The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) and the Cairo and the Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchange (CASE) are the main regulators of securities activities.
Qatar
Authors: Ross Timothy N
Published: November 2023

The Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) was set up in early 2005 by virtue of law number 7 of 2005 (QFC Law). Although the QFC is not a free zone, thus being an onshore jurisdiction, it is an independent jurisdiction parallel to that of Qatar. In this sense, the QFC has its own civil and commercial laws that are based on common law best practices and very different to the laws of Qatar. Therefore, the answers to the questions below will cover both the Qatari and QFC legal systems.
Syrian Arab Republic
Authors: Ross Timothy N
Published: November 2023

Banking: The Credit and Monetary Council was established in order to co-ordinate the activities of the credit and monetary institutions in the Syrian Arab Republic. The Credit and Monetary Council reviews and considers all aspects of the Syrian banking industry, provides a forum for the discussion of all issues relevant to Syrian banking, and liaises with the Central Bank of Syria.
Losses in Translation
Authors: Bradley Richard
Published: November 2023

Two kinds of translation intervene between the artworks of the past and those of the present day. The first is the transformation of ancient objects through the antiquities trade. Once they are taken out of their original contexts the yenter a new domain in which their associations are ignored and their visual appearance changes them into works of art. The second translation is where they provide a model for contemporary artists who may be equally unconcerned with the primary roles of those objects.
Marketing Authorization
Authors: Feldschreiber Dr Peter
Published: November 2023

This chapter reviews how the science underlying the evaluation of the risk–benefit of medicines is applied in practice by governmental agencies responsible for ensuring compliance with the regulatory legislation. The chapter will discuss the structure of those agencies and the processes by which their teams make the requisite scientific and medical judgments.
Regulation of Clinical Trials
Authors: Hudson Dr Ian
Published: November 2023

In the UK, when the licensing provisions of the Medicines Act 1968 came into force in 1971, they required the supplier of a medicinal product to apply for a Clinical Trial Certificate (CTC) before testing a new product in patients. Under the Medicines Act 1968, a doctor or dentist was considered to be carrying out a clinical trial if he administered a medicinal product primarily to determine what effect it had.1 The applicant had to provide detailed pharmaceutical and toxicological information about the new drug, and the Licensing Authority (LA), with the advice of the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM) granted the CTC if appropriate, having assessed the new compound and concluded that it did not involve a serious risk to the trial subject.
Criminal Liability
Authors: Asif Jalil
Published: November 2023

This chapter considers the main areas of potential exposure to criminal liability for those involved in the production and supply of medicines when there is a serious adverse effect on the user of the medicine (or anyone else). There are a number of possible offences that may be relevant depending on the nature of the effect or the conduct involved, from criminal charges of murder downwards. This chapter also addresses the provisions of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 concerning controlled drugs, and deals with the regulatory offences that may also be committed. However, it does not seek to deal with criminal procedure or evidence.
The Law: Intellectual Property
Authors: Denoon Alexander
Published: November 2023

Part of the difficulty arises from the fact that the various forms of intellectual property have developed independently and are lumped together under a rubric merely for convenience. In fact, intellectual property is more dynamic than one might expect. In addition to significant common law developments, the UK has recognized various new intellectual property rights in the last twenty years.
Building the Defences
Authors: McCulloch Jock , Tweedale Geoffrey
Published: November 2023

In February 1929, Pauline Lasin, who lived at Manville, New Jersey, became a widow. She was 37 and the mother of six small children. Pauline’s husband, John, who for a decade had worked for Johns- Manville, had died of asbestosis. The family was Ukrainian and Pauline Lasin was left with no way of supporting her children. Soon after her husband’s death, she was approached by a lawyer who encouraged her to file a claim against Johns-Manville for $40,000.During the preliminary hearings Johns-Manville mounted its standard defence.
The Chrysotile Defence
Authors: McCulloch Jock , Tweedale Geoffrey
Published: November 2023

In reviewing the science it is important to remember that asbestos is such a toxic material that even relatively trivial exposure can result in serious or fatal injury. For that reason, one might have expected physicians and allied scientists to have led the campaigns against the mineral and against the companies that produced it. Yet, as we shall see, not only was the medical profession’s reaction to the asbestos hazard often feeble, but scientists have also been among the industry’s most strident defenders.
Pushing Asbestos in the Developing World
Authors: McCulloch Jock , Tweedale Geoffrey
Published: November 2023

During most of the twentieth century, asbestos mined in economically depressed regions was used to manufacture products in the industrial heartlands of the North. Although the Canadian mines were to some extent an exception, Quebec is one of Canada’s poorest provinces and the men and women employed at Thetford were amongst the mostvulnerable of Canadian workers. Over the past three decades that pattern has changed. Today asbestos manufacture is concentrated in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, where a wide range of cheap and durable products are made.
Integration or accommodation? The enduring debate in conflict regulation
Authors: McGarry* John , O’Leary Brendan , Simeon Richard
Published: November 2023

Two prevalent sets of public policies are available to democratic states willing or obliged to manage national, ethnic, and communal diversity. The orthodox wisdom drives under the banner of integration while the other flies under the flag of accommodation. Integration promotes a single public identity coterminous with the state’s territory. It commends a common and functional single public house, a Le Corbusier-style tower block with uniform apartments. It makes no formal commendation on how private apartments should be maintained or decorated. Integrationists primarily seek the equality of individual citizens before the law and within public institutions. With the sole exception of the state’s citizenship they are against the public institutional recognition of group identities, but they accept collective diversity in private realms. They see integration as the key to a progressive politics, political stability, public unity, and the transcendence of group-based chauvinism.
Applying The Principles Of Adaptive Policy Design To Environmental Taxes
Authors: Bairg1 Stephan
Published: November 2023

We live in a world where the climate is changing, energy prices are highly unpredictable, international trade rules are in a state of flux, and domestic security considerations in many countries are so important that they permeate or overwhelm all other policy issues. At the same time, scientific knowledge is advancing on many fronts, also in unpredictable directions. We are uncertain about both the future of the natural world and how humanity and society will respond to what-ever changes occur. The impacts of all of these factors are not predictable. We do not know what will be the impact on ecosystem functioning, or global and local income distribution, or on aggregate economic output. In particular, we don’t know what the combined impacts of all of the changes will be—on farm and fishery production, on water supplies and health care systems, on financial markets, or on government revenues and the demand for services. Governments’ dilemma is that they are required to make policy in this situation of great uncertainty. The dilemma arises because policy is normally made on the basis of relative certainty. Policy designers are used to working with constants and normals, such as land mass, population, stable infrastructure, and market economies that move within a predictable range. Therefore, when they suggest policy interventions they often feel that they can predict the results. But in this new state of uncertainty in which governments must operate, this goal may be unattainable with normal approaches.3 This chapter examines how policy-makers, and particularly tax designers, might be able to design policies that will cope well with uncertainty. The sections below will first outline the sources of the uncertainty, and then discuss the issues that this raises for policy-makers.
Green Taxes Versus Economic Freedoms: An ECJ Case Law Approach*
Authors: Grau1 Amparo , Chico2 Pablo , Herrera3 Pedro
Published: November 2023

It is well known that the European Union is committed to environmental goals (Articles 1, 3(1)(l), 6, 95(3), and 174–176 EC Treaty). There are a number of EU rules that oblige the Member States to meet these goals, to a general or more specific extent. In the following paragraphs we will use the European Court of Justice (ECJ) case law to assess precisely to what extent these rules are being followed and in which circumstances they have not prevailed, for example in face of the internal free market forces and the strict conditions of the state aid regime to protect competition goals. The Court’s judgment of 2 April 1998, Outokumpu Oy,4 recalled its previous remarks in Commission v Denmark, 5 where it held that the protection of the environment is one of the Community’s essential goals. Moreover, since the entry into force of the Treaty of Maastricht, the Community’s activities have included a policy 6 directed at the environment. Its objectives have included promoting respect for the environment and sustainable and non-inflationary growth. However, the ECJ has stated that the establishment of a tax—even if the purpose of the tax is environmental—cannot be justified under Community law if it is incompatible with some of the Community freedoms.7
Regulatory And Related Policy Drivers And Barriers To Sustainable Innovation: Energy Sources In Vehicles
Authors: Makuch1 Zen , Foxon2 Tim , Pearson3 Peter , Mata4 Macarena
Published: November 2023

This chapter focuses on how to develop better policy processes to promote sustainable innovation for achieving social, environmental, and economic goals. We propose five guiding principles to inform strategic thinking about the policy goals, processes, measures, and instruments appropriate for a Sustainable Innovation (SI) policy regime (see boxed text at para 16.07 below). We describe each principle’s rationale and suggest how it might be implemented. In this approach,
Evaluation Of Potential Changes In The Tax Treatment Of Company Cars In Canada
Authors: Rivers Nic , Sadik1 Pierre
Published: November 2023

Canada has ratified the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which commits it to reducing average annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions between 2008 and 2012 to 6 per cent below the 1990 level. Because of increases in population, economic growth, and certain industrial activities, GHG emissions in Canada had grown to 24 per cent above 1990 levels by 2003, and are forecast to continue growing through to 2012 in the absence of strong policies.2 Canada’s commitment under the Kyoto Protocol therefore represents a reduction of GHG emissions of more than 30 per cent from business as usual levels. Over the past fifteen years, the Government of Canada has developed a series of plans to try to meet this commitment, though the current government has recently abandoned this objective. In The Budget Plan 2005, the Government of Canada outlines the importance of economic instruments, such as grants, subsidies, and tax measures, in meeting economic and environmental goals simultaneously. In particular, the government discusses the potential for using the tax system to pursue broader objectives (additional to its basic role of generating revenue). One related objective that the government may decide to continue to pursue is the correction of negative environmental externalities, which occur when an individual or company does not pay the full cost of polluting. In this situation, market prices understate actual costs to society, and the individual or company produces more pollution than is socially optimal, resulting in a market failure. Under certain conditions, government may be able to correct for such market failures by using economic instruments to establish improved price signals.
New Zealand’s Failed Attempt At A Carbon Tax—Fatally Flawed Or Mismanaged?
Authors: Sawyer* Adrian
Published: November 2023

In this chapter I examine, by way of an explanatory case study, New Zealand’s ‘failed’ proposed approach to addressing a serious environmental issue (carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions) through the tax system, by way of a carbon tax. After ratifying the Kyoto Protocol on climate change in December 2002, the NZ Government announced that a carbon tax would be introduced as part of a package of emission reductions. Capped at NZ$25 a tonne of CO2, the amount was initially set at NZ$15 a tonne, as set out in a discussion document released on 4 May 2005,1 two and a half years after ratifying the Kyoto Protocol. The carbon tax would be paid early in the supply chain and be a tax deductible expense to firms. It was anticipated to bring in net revenue of NZ$322 million (after rebates and exemptions), with the rate expected to rise later to NZ$25 a tonne, which would bring in NZ$1 billion. Concurrently the NZ Government stated that New Zealand would be a net exporter of forest sink credits in the first commitment period (under the Kyoto Protocol) of 33 million tonnes of credits, worth approximately NZ$1.1 billion at that time. Initial reaction to the proposal was generally negative, emphasizing that the carbon tax would significantly increase costs, increase energy prices, and transport costs, with the costs passed on to consumers, and importantly no reduction in emission levels was guaranteed. On 16 June 2005, the NZ Government announced that forecast emissions had surged, leading to a forecast forest sinking credit deficit of 36.2 million credits, predominantly a result of widely optimistic initial projections—the result,
The Tragic Paradox: Germany’S Very Successful But Not Very Popular Green Budget Reform: Lessons From Seven Years Of Courageous Turnaround (1999–2005)
Authors: Görres Anselm , Cottrell Jacqueline
Published: November 2023

In the political arena of the second half of 2006, historians may come to recognize a turning point in the global climate debate. If there was a worldwide poll for the most well-known environmentalist politicians, the two forerunners would be quite clear: Albert Gore and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Probably, nothing in this world is so powerful as combining important political clout in the world’s biggest economy with the global media might of Hollywood. As a former Vice-President from 1993 to 2001, and almost President of the 2000 campaign, Al Gore is the most prominent political actor yet to put the climate crisis and its resolution at the centre of his political programme. And he does it using a movie made in Hollywood. As a former Hollywood actor and now Governor of the most important state in the United States, Arnold Schwarzenegger knows how to play the media. That he won his first term by reversing a tax increase on cars has been forgotten by most and, if not, simply adds spice to his conversion to become not the first, but certainly the most well-known, green Governor in the United States. Europe, in spite of its far better record on climate protection, has so far failed to produce a green leader who comes anywhere near the prominence of Gore and Schwarzenegger.2 The emergence of two top protagonists like Gore and ‘Arnie’ coincides with a number of other factors that help to give the US debate––for years more or less buried under the apathy, if not the outright hostility, of the Bush administration towards green issues—a new, positive turn that may well favourably influence the entire world. To name but a few:3
Taxes And The Success Of Non-Tax Market-Based Environmental Regulatory Regimes
Authors: Nash* Jonathan Remy
Published: November 2023

Environmental economists and policy-makers often advocate market-based environmental regulatory regimes. Pigouvian taxes are one type of market-based regime: an environmental tax in effect establishes a ‘spot market’ for pollution emissions. Other market-based regimes, such as tradable pollution permit regimes and conservation easements, rely upon private transactions in environmental degradation rights to achieve regulatory goals. In general, once the choice is made to adopt a non-tax-based regime, it is almost always the case that tax concerns are not discussed. Policy-makers err, however, in viewing a choice against the use of an environmental tax regime as rendering tax concerns irrelevant. Indeed, I argue here that tax concerns, and tax structures, can have significant effects upon the function and ultimate success of non-tax market-based environmental regulatory regimes. To demonstrate this point, I consider the US federal income tax treatment of two market-based environmental regulatory devices—conservation easements and tradable pollution emission allowances. In particular, I argue that the current income tax treatment may frustrate the environmental goals of the devices. For example, donating or selling a conservation easement may result in the deferral or even the elimination of gains or losses. While the possibility of deferring or eliminating a gain may encourage property holders to sell or donate conservation easements—a result presumably consistent with environmental goals—it is also true that the deferral or elimination of a loss may discourage property holders from selling or donating conservation easements. And there is little reason to think that the presence of an unrealized gain (or loss) with respect to a piece of property correlates to the desirability of obtaining a conservation easement with respect to that property.
The Limits To Self-Restraint And Eco-Efficiency: Proposed Application Of Environmental Taxation In Japanese Environmental Policy
Authors: Toudou1 Fumiaki
Published: November 2023

This chapter focuses on analysing the problems of eco-efficiency, the limits to self-restraint, and the efforts made to introduce environmental taxation in Japan. Additionally, it highlights the need for tax policy reforms directed at Japan’s environmental, transport, and land-development sectors. I argue that adherence to notions of self-restraint and eco-efficiency is a flawed approach in the same way as is adherence to traditional Japanese environmental policies. Viewed from a theoretical and empirical perspective, both tend to rely on direct control (command-and-control) measures and technological progress. I will demonstrate this by arguing three points. First, I will describe the historical background and empirical findings in relation to air pollutant emissions in Japan, and express them as formulae, using the concepts of ‘inverse eco-efficiency’ and ‘total environmental resource inputs’. It is obvious that traditional measures focusing only on the relative ratio of pollutants to emissions are inconsistent with protecting the environment. Secondly, I will show how the proposed Japanese environmental taxation plan is an effective and efficient economic instrument to manage the environmental burden of economic activity. I will also demonstrate the flaws in the arguments against levying environmental taxes.
A Comparative Analysis of the National Implementation of the Directive’s Morality Clause
Authors: Hellstadius* Åsa
Published: November 2023

The European patent system has been one of cooperation and harmonization for more than 35 years, where Member States of the European Patent Convention(EPC)have readily harmonized national patent legislation and practice to European standards created by the European Patent Office (EPO).
Institutional and Jurisdictional Aspects of Stem Cell Patenting in Europe (EC And EPO): Tensions and Prospects
Authors: Engelbrekt* Antonina Bakardjieva
Published: November 2023

Stem cell patenting is under the present legal regime in Europe a matter that involves many institutions at national, supranational, and intergovernmental level. The European Patent Office (EPO) is a key institution granting, through a single procedure, so-called European patents for most states belonging to the European Patent Organisation, both Members and non-Members of the European Union.
The Research Exemption in Patent Law and its Application to hESC Research
Authors: Hellstadius* Åsa
Published: November 2023

The scope of the experimental use exemption is one of the most important and hotly contested issues in patent law today, which aims to create incentives for technological progress and future innovation by rewarding inventors with (limited) exclusive rights. A contentious issue is the risk of patents stifling further innovation, such as improvements to patented inventions, and thus depriving society of such benefits.
Quantum mechanics
Authors: Lindsay S M
Published: November 2023

Quantum mechanics is conceptually challenging and requires mathematics, but it is an essential basis for understanding nanoscience. Though simplified, the material in this chapter covers what might be learned in an entire semester, so if you have not been exposed to the subject before, panic would be a reasonable reaction! The chapter is long because it (almost) serves as a stand-alone guide to the subject (taken in conjunction with Appendix C). This outline lists the essential “take-home” points needed to follow the rest of the book. If you grasp these, you can always come back to this chapter later for more background.
Microscopy and manipulation tools
Authors: Lindsay S M
Published: November 2023

This chapter describes the important imaging and manipulation tools without which Nanoscience would be impossible. We begin with a description of the scanning tunneling microscope (STM; Section 4.1) because this was the first instrument that made the manipulation of single atoms feasible. Atomic scale imaging had been possible (using electron microscopes) for some time before the STM was invented, but the ease of operation and construction of STMs popularized Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. The STM has largely been superseded by its close relation, the atomic force microscope (AFM), because the AFM is capable of imaging insulating surfaces and therefore has a more general set of applications (Section 4.2). The AFM also enabled the measurement of the mechanical properties of individual molecules, and this application to single molecule force measurements is also reviewed here (Section 4.2.6). Despite these enormous advances in scanning probe microscopy, the electron microscope still offers the most accurate measurement of many nanoscale structures and we review some aspects of electron microscopy in Section 4.3. At around the same time that the AFM was becoming popular, the optics community began to develop techniques and dyes for fluorescent imaging of single molecules (Section 4.4). These methods broke the classical limits on optical resolution, allowing particles to be located with nanometer accuracy in optical images. The new optical methods also enabled new approaches to measuring motion at a single molecule level. The discovery that small particles could be manipulated with a light beam also occurred in this time frame (the mid-1980s), leading to the development of devices that manipulate single molecules attached to small particles (Section 4.5). Methods for the direct imaging of nanostructures and the measurement of their mechanical properties and their fluctuations have undergone a dramatic revolution in the past 20 years.
Prologue – The Nineteenth-Century Heritage
Authors: Brandt Siegmund
Published: November 2023

In 1874 Max Planck was sixteen years old. He was about to enter the university in Munich and sought the advice of Jolly who was professor of physics there. Jolly told him that he considered the edifice of physics to be essentially completed and that only a few details might still be discovered in this field. In short, Jolly told Planck that there was not much future in the study of physics. Fortunately Planck was not discouraged. A quarter of a century later, on 14 December 1900, Max Planck delivered a talk at one of the regular meetings of the German Physical Society in Berlin about work with which he laid the foundations of quantum theory which goes far beyond the now so-called Classical Physics of the nineteenth century. Because of this the year 1900 is generally considered the birth year of Modern Physics. The story of Planck’s discovery will be told in one of our first episodes. But before that let us briefly look at the status of physics at the end of the nineteenth century.
Becquerel Discovers Radioactivity (1896)
Authors: Brandt Siegmund
Published: November 2023

As we have seen, the first observation of X rays was brought about by a fortunate coincidence. The discovery of radioactivity, likewise unexpected, was triggered by the discovery of X rays although the two are completely unrelated. The story is told by Marie Curie in the introduction to her thesis [1] as follows: ‘The first tubes producing Röntgen rays were tubes without metallic anticathode. The source of the Röntgen rays was a spot on the glass wall which was hit by the cathode rays; at the same time this spot showed a lively fluorescence. One could therefore ask oneself if the emission of Röntgen rays did not necessarily accompany the production of fluorescence. This idea was pronounced first by M. Henri Poincaré. Shortly afterwards, M. Henry announced that he had obtained photographic prints through black paper with the help of zinc sulphide.’ She goes on to report that also two other gentlemen, M. Niewenglowski and M. Troost, obtained the blackening of photographic plates wrapped in black paper when they caused different materials to fluoresce by exposing them to light. But she also reports that none of these results could be reproduced and how then Becquerel made his astonishing discovery.
Marie and Pierre Curie – Polonium and Radium (1898)
Authors: Brandt Siegmund
Published: November 2023

In 1867, Maria Salomee Skłodowska was born in Warsaw which then was part of the Russian Empire. Under the name Marie Curie [1–3] she was to become the most famous woman scientist of all time and the only person to receive the Nobel Prize both in physics and in chemistry. After her school years she worked for some time as governess before, in 1891, she began to study physics in Paris where her sister lived by that time. After passing the exam in physics as best of her class in 1893, she went on to study mathematics. Besides, she took on experimental work on magnetic properties of steels. Looking for a laboratory in which to perform that work, she was introduced, early in 1894, to Pierre Curie [4], who worked at the École municipale de Physique et de Chimie industrielles. He had already done important research. Together with his brother Paul-Jacques Curie he had discovered piezoelectricity, which later became important in many technical applications. That same year Pierre Curie found relations on the temperature dependence of magnetism in matter, which still bear his name. Marie and Pierre married in 1895. Their first daughter, Irène, whom we shall meet again in Episode 54, was born in September 1897. Shortly thereafter Marie Curie, having heard of Becquerel’s discoveries, began to work on radioactivity.
Max Planck and the Quantum of Action (1900)
Authors: Brandt Siegmund
Published: November 2023

It is often said that Planck’s discovery, or rather his postulate of the quantum of action in December 1900, marks the beginning of quantum physics, the dominant subject of twentieth-century physics. Somewhat less known is that what Planck aimed at and achieved in 1900 was the answer to a problem pointed out by Kirchhoff forty years earlier.
Rutherford Finds the Law of Radioactive Decay (1900)
Authors: Brandt Siegmund
Published: November 2023

In his first research work done at McGill, Rutherford made two discoveries at a time: He found a new element, now called radon. Moreover, he discovered the exponential law describing the decay of radioactive substances.
Einstein Creates the Special Theory of Relativity (1905)
Authors: Brandt Siegmund
Published: November 2023

Einstein’s paper on the light quantum (Episode 10) was received by the Annalen der Physik on 18 March 1905. At the end of April he completed his Ph.D. thesis on a new method to determine Avogadro’s constant, which was accepted by the University of Zurich in July. On 11 May his paper on Brownian motion (see Episode 14) was received by the Annalen and on 30 June the paper On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies [1], in which Einstein created what he later called the Special Theory of Relativity. About this paper Abraham Pais, Einstein’s unsurpassed biographer, writes [2]: ‘Einstein was driven to the special theory of relativity mostly by aesthetic arguments, that is, by arguments of simplicity. The same magnificent obsession would stay with him for the rest of his life. It was to lead to his greatest achievement, general relativity, and to his noble failure, unified field theory.’
Observing a Single Particle – The Rutherford–Geiger Counter and Later Electronic Detectors (1908)
Authors: Brandt Siegmund
Published: November 2023

While he was professor in Montreal, Rutherford received several offers for professorships from Universities in the United States, among others from Columbia and Yale, and refused them. But when he was offered a chair at the University of Manchester as successor of Schuster , he accepted. He wrote to the principal of McGill University that [1] ‘the determining factor in deciding to go to Manchester was my feeling that it is necessary to be in closer contact with European science than is possible on this side of the Atlantic.
Max von Laue – The Nature of X Rays and the Atomic Structure of Crystals (1912)
Authors: Brandt Siegmund
Published: November 2023

The nature of the X rays discovered by Röntgen in 1895 was not known. Röntgen himself conjectured that they might be longitudinal ether waves as opposed to the transverse ones, the electromagnetic waves found by Hertz. Since in Röntgen’s original experiment the X rays originated from the point where cathode rays, i.e., electrons, hit matter, Wiechert and also Stokes suggested already in 1896 that X rays were emitted by electrons while the latter were decelerated. In Maxwell’s theory an electric charge with a velocity, which is not constant, emits electromagnetic waves. In the Hertzian dipole antenna the charges oscillate to and fro. In a Röntgen tube electrons lose their velocity hitting a piece of matter. The fact that interference effects, characteristic of all waves, in particular, light and Hertzian waves, were not observed for X rays, did not preclude that they were electromagnetic waves. Their wavelength might be too small for the detection of interference.
J. J. Thomson Identifies Isotopes (1912)
Authors: Brandt Siegmund
Published: November 2023

The idea of atoms as final constituents goes back to antiquity. In 1803 Dalton formulated it in a precise scientific form and thus, at the same time, created the framework of modern chemistry. One of his five postulates reads: Atoms of the same element are similar to one another and equal in weight. This statement could be taken as a definition of an element. But the name element was, and is, used for a substance that cannot be decomposed into others by chemical means. Prout noted the fact that the atomic mass numbers of those elements for which these numbers had been determined with some accuracy were multiples of the atomic mass number of hydrogen. (The latter can be taken to be equal to one.) Therefore, in 1815, he pronounced the hypothesis that the atoms of all elements were made up of hydrogen atoms. In the course of the nineteenth century atomic mass numbers were obtained with increasing accuracy and many elements were found for which that number was far from an integer (i.e., far from a whole number). Prout’s hypothesis was therefore rejected but there was no reason to doubt Dalton’s postulate. In the twentieth century the situation was reversed: The second half of Dalton’s postulate was shown to be wrong and Prout’s hypothesis was shown to carry some truth.
Moseley and the Periodic Table of Elements (1913)
Authors: Brandt Siegmund
Published: November 2023

In 1913 and 1914, respectively, Moseley [1] published two papers which, once and for all, established a firm connection of the Periodic Table, which was based on empirical chemistry, to the physical structure of atoms. In 1915 at the age of 27, he was killed in the ill-fated campaign of the British against the Turkish army on the Gallipoli peninsula.
Einstein Completes the General Theory of Relativity (1915)
Authors: Brandt Siegmund
Published: November 2023

In Episode 11 we witnessed the creation of special relativity. The word special, later given to that theory by Einstein, signifies that the relative motion between two reference frames is rectilinear with constant velocity.
Nitrogen is Turned into Oxygen (1919)
Authors: Brandt Siegmund
Published: November 2023

In June 1919, a paper by Rutherford was published in which he announces another of his great discoveries, the transmutation of an element in a planned experiment. He had already discovered the spontaneous transmutation of radioactive elements (see Episode 9), which could not be influenced by man. Now he showed that transmutation could be achieved, more or less, at will.
Astronomers Verify General Relativity (1919)
Authors: Brandt Siegmund
Published: November 2023

In 1704 Newton published his book Opticks. In his foreword to a reprint of 1931 Einstein wrote [1]: Fortunate Newton, happy childhood of science! He who has time and tranquillity can by reading this book live the wonderful events which the great Newton experienced in his young days. Nature to him was an open book, whose letters he could read without effort … In one person he combined the experimenter, the theorist, the mechanic and, not least, the artist in exposition. He stands before us strong, certain and alone; his joy in creation and his minute precision are evident in every word and in every figure.
Bose and Einstein – A New Way of Counting (1924)
Authors: Brandt Siegmund
Published: November 2023

There are two rather different phenomena that furthered the development of quantum theory: blackbody radiation and atomic spectra. In fact quantum theory began in 1900 with Planck’s radiation law and his introduction of the quantum of action h (Episode 7). His derivation of the law was by no means stringent. He assumed the existence of many resonators (atoms or molecules) of different but fixed frequencies ν, which could emit or absorb radiation only in quanta of energy E = hν. Einstein, in his light-quantum hypothesis of 1905, postulated that the energy quantization is a property of the radiation field itself and not due to the material resonators. He found a similarity between a cavity filled with radiation consisting of quanta and a vessel filled with gas consisting of atoms. However, he could not obtain Planck’s law but only Wien’s (Episode 10).
Pauli’s Exclusion Principle (1925)
Authors: Brandt Siegmund
Published: November 2023

The exclusion principle is one of the most far-reaching theorems in physics. In a telegram to the Nobel committee, quoted in [1], Einstein wrote: ‘Nominate Wolfgang Pauli for physics prize stop his contributions to modern quantum theory consisting of so-called Pauli or exclusion principle became fundamental part of modern physics being independent from other basic axioms of that theory stop Albert Einstein.’ It is interesting to note that quantum mechanics, the theory Einstein alluded to, was formulated a little after the Pauli principle.
Hubble Finds that the Universe is Expanding (1929)
Authors: Brandt Siegmund
Published: November 2023

In 1929, through the work of Hubble [1,2], our present picture of the expanding universe, consisting of galaxies moving away from one another, was established. Hubble is considered by many to be the greatest astronomer of the twentieth century. Certainly he made good use of the fact that, nearly from the outset of his career, he worked with the world’s largest telescope and concentrated on work that could be done with this instrument only.
Chadwick Discovers the Neutron (1932)
Authors: Brandt Siegmund
Published: November 2023

In June 1920, Rutherford presented his Bakerian Lecture on the Nuclear Constitution of Atoms. Among experimental facts and the assertion, that the atomic nucleus is composed of protons and electrons, it contains the following speculation [1]: Under some circumstances, however, it may be possible for an electron to combine much more closely with the H nucleus [the hydrogen nucleus, i.e., the proton], forming a kind of neutral doublet. Such an atom would have novel properties. Its external [electric] field would be practically zero, and in consequence it should be able to move freely through matter. Its presence would probably be difficult to detect by the spectroscope, and it may be impossible to contain it in a sealed vessel. On the other hand it should enter readily the structure of atoms, and may either unite with the nucleus or be disintegrated by its intense field, resulting possibly in the escape of a charged H atom or an electron or both.
Fermi’s Theory of Beta Rays (1933)
Authors: Brandt Siegmund
Published: November 2023

In 1926, not long after Fermi had published the work on his new statistics (Episode 41), Corbino, his mentor, succeeded to have a chair for theoretical physics established at the University of Rome. The customary competition was won by Fermi who thus, in 1927, at the age of only 26 years, became professor in Rome. As a result of the same competition Persico, his friend from school days in Rome, became professor in Florence. Fermi’s chair was attached to the Institute of Physics headed by Corbino and the two men decided to thoroughly modernize physics in Rome in both theory and experiment. As a first step Rasetti , a young experimentalist with wide interests whom Fermi knew from Florence, was hired as Corbino’s assistant. He began with important work on optical spectroscopy, some together with Fermi. There were only very few young people studying physics. But additional students were won over from electrical engineering, the first two being Segrè and Amaldi .