This volume on the physics of simple metals features a collection of articles constituting the seminal contributions that Albert Warner Overhauser made to this field with a view toward its future as derived from his own research. He was attracted to simple metals like potassium at an early time (1951) because simple metals allowed him to study the effect of interacting electrons which are responsible for the many interesting and fundamental phenomena exhibited by these simple metals. This research area is now called "emergent phenomena" which address the question of "how do complex phenomena emerge from simple ingredients". This topic remains at the forefront of condensed matter physics, as cited in the present decadal study by the US National Research Council Condensed Matter and Materials Physics 2010 Committee entitled "The Science of the World Around Us".

From the contents:

• Part I
• Introduction and Overview.
• Part II
• Reprints of SDW or CDW Phenomena in Simple Metals.
• Part III
• Unexpected Phenomena Exhibited by Metallic Potassium.