Helmut Satz, Professor Emeritus at the Fakultät für Physik, Universität Bielefeld, Germany, studied at Michigan State University and the University of Hamburg, where he received his doctorate in 1963 and did his habilitation in 1967. After that, he worked at the University of California/ Los Angeles, at CERN/Geneva, and the University of Helsinki. Satz has been Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Bielefeld since 1971, retiring in2001. In addition to his Bielefeld activities, he served on the staff of Brookhaven National Laboratory (1985 - 1989) and at CERN (1089 – 1996), specifically to carry out research on the physics of the Quark-Gluon-Plasma, the state of matter which made up the very early universe and which is presently being studied in high energy nuclear collision experiments.Professor Satz has been a great inspiration to his colleagues as well as his students, many of whom graduated under his supervision.  After his retirement, he wasfrom 2002 to 2004 Gulbenkian professor at the Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal.  Since 1994 he has been a member of the Finnish Academy of Sciences, and since 2014 he holds an honorary doctorate of the University of Wroclaw, Poland.

• Dedication.- Preface to the 1st Edition.- Preface to the 2nd Edition.- The Analysis of Dense Matter.- The Physics of Complex Systems.- The Limits of Hadron Physics.- From Hadrons to Quarks.- Statistical Quantum Chromodyanamics.- Broken Symmetries.- The QCD Phase Diagram.- The Quark-Gluon Plasma.- The Little Bang.- Probing the Quark-Gluon Plasma.- The Fireball Paradigm.- The Event Horizon of Color Confinement.- Fluids and Flow.- Outlook.

Helmut Satz, Professor Emeritus at the Fakultät für Physik, Universität Bielefeld, Germany, studied at Michigan State University and the University of Hamburg, where he received his doctorate in 1963 and did his habilitation in 1967. After that, he worked at the University of California/ Los Angeles, at CERN/Geneva, and the University of Helsinki. Satz has been Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Bielefeld since 1971, retiring in2001. In addition to his Bielefeld activities, he served on the staff of Brookhaven National Laboratory (1985 - 1989) and at CERN (1089 – 1996), specifically to carry out research on the physics of the Quark-Gluon-Plasma, the state of matter which made up the very early universe and which is presently being studied in high energy nuclear collision experiments.Professor Satz has been a great inspiration to his colleagues as well as his students, many of whom graduated under his supervision.  After his retirement, he wasfrom 2002 to 2004 Gulbenkian professor at the Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal.  Since 1994 he has been a member of the Finnish Academy of Sciences, and since 2014 he holds an honorary doctorate of the University of Wroclaw, Poland.

• Dedication.- Preface to the 1st Edition.- Preface to the 2nd Edition.- The Analysis of Dense Matter.- The Physics of Complex Systems.- The Limits of Hadron Physics.- From Hadrons to Quarks.- Statistical Quantum Chromodyanamics.- Broken Symmetries.- The QCD Phase Diagram.- The Quark-Gluon Plasma.- The Little Bang.- Probing the Quark-Gluon Plasma.- The Fireball Paradigm.- The Event Horizon of Color Confinement.- Fluids and Flow.- Outlook.