Antisolitons traveling on the surface of a nucleus are shown to generate hi
ghly deformed shapes. The dynamics is based on solutions of the non-linear
Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation. The theory is used to model the onset of
nuclear fission. Aspects of the dynamics, its relation to fluid mechanics,
and some conceptual problems arising from the application of the theory are
also discussed. (C) 2001 IMACS. Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rig
hts reserved.