  Volume I of two. This document could be of interest to anyone who wants to
have a comprehensive inside information about the research in nuclear physics
from its early beginnings to later years. It describes highlights of my
research work from the late 1950s to the late 1980s. It presents a panorama of
experimental and theoretical methods used in the study of nuclear reactions
(their mechanism and their application to the study of nuclear structure), the
panorama ranging from simple detection techniques used in the early research to
more complicated in later years, from simple theoretical interpretations to
more complicated descriptions. This document describes my research work in
Poland, Australia, Switzerland and Germany using various particle accelerators
and a wide range of experimental and theoretical techniques. It presents a
typical cross section of experimental and theoretical work in the early and
later stages of nuclear research in the field of nuclear reactions
