查看文章

&~ indicate an intimate connection between the origin and the relative abundances of nuclear species, and have within recent years provided the clues required for attempting an explanation. Astrophysical studies have shown, first of all, that one can attach a fairly de6nite age to the universe as we know it, second, that the relative abundances of nuclear species are, to a good approximation, universal quantities, and, third, that physical conditions near the" beginnings" of the universe as we now know it, or in the interiors of certain kinds of stars, may have been suKciently severe to have permitted the nudear processes required for forming all the nuclear species. In addition, nuclear physics indicates that there should be a generic relation between