A report is presented on the Fourth International Conference on Particle-induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) and Its Analytical Applications held on June 9-13

1986 at Tallahassee

Florida of USA. As an important and fairly mature means of analysis

PIXE has been exploiting widely in environmental science

biology

medicine

materials science

geology

archaeology and other fields. At the same time

the methodology and techniques of PIXE itself are improving.