Actinides are an important, if sometimes unwanted, part of highly technological societies. Actinides pose an extreme scientific challenge to the materials research community. Their complex electronic structure results in many abnormal properties that even today are not well understood. The focus of this book is fundamental actinide science and its role in resolving technical challenges posed by actinide materials. Both basic and applied experimental approaches, as well as theoretical modeling and computational simulations, are featured. Topics for the inaugural actinides symposium include: actinide phase stability, transformations and aging; phononic and electronic structure; actinides and the environment; actinide solution and interfacial chemistry; actinide science and technology; theory of actinides - elemental phases, alloys and compounds; and superconductivity, correlated behavior and quantum criticality.