Aims and aspirations of nuclear astrophysics

One of the great achievements that future generations will associate with the twentieth century is the understanding of the mechanism that makes the Sun shine. Indeed, it is the same mechanism that operates in all stars. It is thus established that the stars are not eternal. With this comes the realisation that we ourselves are but the dust and ashes of stars and that we have borrowed the elements that make us up from these celestial workings. 

The origins of the atomic nuclei from hydrogen to uranium have been carefully established the Big Bang in the case of hydrogen, helium and a dash of 

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