Extremes of the nuclear landscape: Experimental studies*

Increasingly more intense beams of radioactive isotopes allow moving into unknown areas of the nuclear chart and exploring the limits in nuclear binding and proton-to-neutron ratio. New aspects of nuclear structure and important results for nuclear astrophysics are obtained. The paper provides some overview of experimental developments, facilities and research results; and is intended to set the stage for the many exciting examples of research presented in these proceedings.