This book presents a fascinating account of a breakthrough in science and the insights it has brought that would not have been possible without it. Involved since its invention, Harry Gove recounts the development of accelerator mass spectrometry and its use as an ultrasensitive detection technique in many fields of science and the arts. The book explores the areas where the technique has increased understanding and provided solutions to problems, including the clean-up and storage of nuclear waste, effects of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, biomedical research, the settling of the Americas, and carbon dating of many precious artifacts.