This tour through modern physics presents students with important research topics and clearly explains the cutting-edge research being done on, e.g., superconductivity, gravitational waves, and quasicrystals. It conveys its topics in a captivating, exciting way, without requiring detailed prior knowledge or knowledge of complex formulas.

New chapters: laser and microscopy.

Jan Peter Gehrke, Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University Stuttgart; Patrick Köberle, Stuttgart, Germany.