The authors' aim is to present a review of experimental and theoretical research that has been done to establish and to explain the physical properties of actinide compounds. The book is aimed at physicists and chemists. It was thought useful to collect a large selection of diagrams of experimental data scattered in the literature. Experiment and theory are presented separately, with cross­ references. Not all work has been included: rather, typical examples are discussed. We apologize to all researchers whose work has not been quoted. Since we report on an active field of research, clearly the data and their interpretation are subject to change. We benefitted greatly from discussions with many of our colleagues, particularly with Drs. G. H. Lander and W. Suski. The help of Mrs. C. Bovey and Ch. Lewis in the preparation of the manuscript, and the artwork and photo­ graphic work of Ms. Y. Magnenat and E. Spielmann of the Institute of Experi­ mental Physics of the University of Lausanne, are gratefully acknowledged. Our particular thanks are due to Ms. J. Ubby for her skillful and patient editorial work.