Research on the galvanomagnetic and thermoelectric phenomena in bismut
h and bismuth-antimony alloys, carried out for the most part under the
guidance of A. R. Regel', is reviewed. Study of the dispersion relati
on and charge-carrier relaxation in these materials led to an explanat
ion of the observed behavior of the thermoelectric figure of merit as
a function of external agents. This explanation in turn made it possib
le to develop several devices exploiting this behavior. (C) 1995 Ameri
can Institute of Physics.