Pear-shaped nuclei

This brief review presents current experimental evidence on the existence of deformed axially symmetric but reflection asymmetric or pear shapes in nuclei. A summary of the main findings on the properties of nuclear energy levels and electric transition probabilities is given. These experimental investigations have been possible due to the development of high efficiency gamma-detector arrays and production and availability of exotic radioactive ion beams which facilitated in-beam Coulomb excitation. The nuclear structure of odd-mass pear-shaped nuclei has assumed importance as they can be vital in solving some of the fundamental problems in physics. This paper is sequel to the publication of the book by the author on Pear-shaped Nuclei (World Scientific, 2020).