Throughout the long history of gaseous electronics, we have witnessed the parallel growth of basic understanding of the physical processes
occurring in ionized gases, and of the application of that understanding to a variety of practical problems. A number of technological developments
since the end of World War II, most notably ultrahigh vacuum techniques and microwave diagnostics, engendered a remarkable increase in the rates
of growth of both aspects of the field. In view of the increasing importance of many of these applications to critical problems facing our society, we
have decided to develop a multivolume treatise directed toward the intelligent application of gaseous electronics principles and devices to those
problems.