Introductory lecture: blazing the trail from metals to nuclei

Abstract

Emphasis is given to studies of individual clusters. Molecular beam experiments indicate that in isolated metal clusters the stability, shape and several other properties are often dominated by electronic rather than atomic packing effects. Magic numbers arise as in nuclear shell theory. Electron microscopy of supported clusters indicates a preference for simple crystal including icosahedral, though often imperfect, structures and the smallest clusters can be unstable under electron illumination. The possibility of reconciling these results is discussed.