This book serves as a comprehensive guide for scientists, engineers, and artists who would like to have a good grasp of the fundamentals and applications of columnar structures for their own professional interests.

Jens Winkelmann, currently a data scientist, was a PhD student (2015-2019) at the Foams and Complex Systems research group of Trinity College Dublin (Ireland), under the supervision of Prof. Stefan Hutzler. He obtained his BSc and MSc, both in physics, from Technische Universität Dortmund (Gemany) in 2013 and 2015, respectively. Dr Winkelmann has published a good number of peer-reviewed articles on the packings of spheres in cylindrical confinement

Ho-Kei Chan ( ) is an associate professor of physics (2016-present) at the Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen (China). He obtained a 1st class BSc in engineering physics in 2002 from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and a PhD in physics in 2007 from the University of Manchester (UK), followed by postdoctoral appointments at the Hong Kong Baptist University (China), Trinity College Dublin (Ireland), and the University of Nottingham (UK), respectively. As a soft-matter physicist, Dr Chan is generally interested in understanding how particles interact to form complex structures.