Book excerpt: These proceedings cover the lectures delivered at the Second International Summer College on Physics and Contemporary Needs held from June 20 - July 7, 1977 at Nathiagali, one of the scenic hill resorts in the northern part of Pakistan. The college was organised by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) and co-sponsored by the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste (ICTP). It also received a financial grant by the University Grants Commission for the participation of physicists from various universities of Pakistan. The college was attended by 13 lecturers, 7 invited semi nar speakers and 134 participants from 26 countries and consisted of 15 concentrated days of lectures, seminars-and informal discu ssions. These proceedings contain only regular lectures delivered there but. the seminars which were held are listed in the Appendix. The theme of the college covered two important aspects of science in general and physics in particular: first to provide to the participants from developing countries some of the excitement of what is happening at the frontiers of physics; secondly as the name of the college emphasises it was to encourage the physicists from developing countries to interest themselves in and to use their knowledge and methodology of research for attacking some of the problems faced by their respective countries. The lectures delivered at the college covered a wide spectrum of physics and indicated similarity of methodology used in various branches of physics as well as practical applications of some of the topics discussed.