Stability is one of the most important performances required for silver
halide photographic materials. In 1935, Dr. E. 1. Birr introduced the
concept of the stabilization ofphotographic emulsions for the first time
by inventing a most effective stabilizer,
4-oxo-6-methyl-l,3,3a,7-tetraazaindene (TAl). Dr. Birr's monograph
Stabilization ofPhotographic Silver Halide Emulsions was published in
1974, and accepted as a reliable reference book by many photographic
scientists and engineers. Since then, silver halide photographic
materials have been greatly improved and expanded through active and
continual development of various kinds of technologies. Especially,
extensive efforts have been made to develop photographic materials with
high sensitivity and rapid processing, which rely upon the stability
ofphotographic emulsions under various conditions. Thus, the concept and
technologies of stabilization ofphotographic silver halide materials
have been expanded so extensively that many photographic scientists and
engineers eagerly want a reliable, new reference book on the
stabilization of photographic emulsions. Dr. Gunther Fischer is one of
the most experienced and eminent scientists and engineers in the field
of the stabilization of photographic materials with expanded concept. He
has been involved in research on the stabilization of pho- tographic
emulsions since 1964 when he joined the Technical Scientific Laboratory
in the Research and Development Department of the Photo Film Company
Agfa Wolfen formerly headed by Dr. Birr, whom he succeeded in that
position. I was deeply impressed by his fruitful and elaborate
achievements in these fields.
