INTERNATIONAL-CONFERENCE ON RADIATION-TOLERANT PLASTIC SCINTILLATORS AND DETECTORS - 28 APRIL 2 MAY 1992, TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA, USA - OVERVIEWS ON SCINTILLATORS AND DETECTORS - DESIGN CRITERIA AND RADIATION-DAMAGE EFFECTS - CONFERENCE SUMMARY

It is my task to summarise the great variety of topics (covering a refreshing mix of physics, chemistry and technology) presented at this conference, which has focused on the effects of ionising radiation on scintillators and other particle detectors. One of the reasons and the central interest of many of the participants was the use of such detectors in experiments at two future large hadron colliders: the Superconducting Super Collider to be operating outside of Dallas in the United States by the turn of the decade and its European counterpart the Large Hadron Collier to be operating outside Geneva in Switzerland on a similar time scale. These accelerators are the ''apple of the high energy physicist's eye''. Their goal is to uncover the elusive Higgs particle and thereby set the cornerstone in our current knowledge of elementary particle interactions. This is the Quest, and from this lofty height the presentations rapidly moved on to the specific questions of experimental science: how such an experiment is carried out; why radiation damage is an issue; how radiation damage affects detectors; which factors affect radiation damage characteristics; which factors are not affected by radiation damage; and how better detectors may be constructed. These were the substance of this conference.