Summary of the Conference (Properties of Nuclear States)

As I said a couple of days ago, as far as my own knowledege of nuclear physics is concerned, this conference was very effective. Often, I think that meetings like the present one will assume the role which publications used to play 30 or 40 years ago. At present, it is impossible to read and digest all publications; it is impossible even if one does not consider oneself to be a physicist but only claims to be a nuclear physicist. Frequently one may be tempted to call oneself a nuclear reaction theorist, or something akin to that, but perhaps we do not have to go quite that far in specialization. Anyway, a meeting such as the present one helps the participants greatly to reacquire a footing in their subject, to become acquainted with more recent developments which they may overlooked and also with the possible weaknesses of these developments as well as of their own work. Not only the official presentations help in this regard; conversations in corridors or on the bus help equally if not more. I myself wish to express my indebtedness to several members of the conference in this regard.