This thesis reports results of precision mass spectrometry of exotic nuclides as a means of
elucidating their structure. The work was performed with the ISOLTRAP spectrometer at CERN¿s
ISOLDE facility. The author furthermore offers an overview of existing techniques used in
Penning-trap mass spectrometry and also reports on recent promising developments regarding
ISOLTRAP. This eloquently written treatment covers both theory and experiment and includes a
general phenomenological introduction to the nuclear-structure intuition contained in the
trends of nuclear binding energies.
