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This was the fourth postgraduate summer school on remote sensing to be held in Dundee. These summer schools were originated by, and continue to remain in, the programme of EARSel (European Association of Remote Sensing Laboratories) Working Group 3 on Education and Training in Remote Sensing. The first of these summer schools was held in 1980 on "e;Remote Sensing in Meteorology, Oceanography and Hydrology"e;. This was followed in 1982 by a more specialised summer school on "e;Remote Sensing Applications in Marine Science and Technology"e; which built on the foundation laid in 1980 and then concentrated on the marine applications of remote sensing techniques. The present summer school was another follow-up of the original 1980 summer school but this time concentrating on the atmospheric rather than the marine applications of remote sensing techniques. The 1984 summer school had not specifically involved atmospheric and marine applications but had been involved with the use of remote sensing in the field of civil engineering. This year's summer school was extremely successful. First of all, this was due to our sponsors, for without their very significant material contributions there would have been no summer school. These sponsors included the Scientific Affairs Division of NATO, together with the European Association of Remote Sensing Laboratories, the Council of Europe, the European Space Agency, the German Aerospace Establishment (DFVLR) and the Natural Environment Research Council.

For the first time in human history, developments in many branches of science provide us with an opportunity of formula- ting a comprehensive picture of the universe from its beginning to the present time. It is an awesome reflection that the carbon in our bodies is the very carbon which was generated during the birth of a star. There is a perceptible continuum through the billions of years which can be revealed by the study of chemistry. Studies in nucleosynthesis have related the origin of the elements to the life history of the stars. The chemical elements we find on earth, HYdrogen, Carbon, Oxygen, and Nitrogen, were created in astronomical processes that took place in the past, and these elements are not spread throughout space in the form of stars and galaxies. Radioastronomers have discovered a vast array of organic molecules in the interstellar medium which have a bearing on prebiological chemical processes. Many of the molecules found so far contain the four elements, C, N, 0, H. Except for the chem- ically unreactive He, these four elements are the most abundant in the galaxy. The origin of polyatomic interstellar molecules is an unresolved problem. While we can explain the formation of some diatomic molecules as due to two atom collisions, it is much more difficult to form polyatomic molecules by collisions between diatomic molecules and atoms. There may be other produc- tion mechanisms at work such as reactions taking place on the surface of interstellar dust grains.

Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute, Trieste, Italy, July 10-August 1, 1980

Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute, Sorrento, Italy, June 5-14, 1973

The idea for organizing an Advanced Study Institute devoted largely to neutron star timing arose independently in three places, at Istanbul, Garching and Amster- dam; when we became aware of each other's ideas we decided to join forces. The choice of a place for the Institute, in Turkey, appealed much to us all, and it was then quickly decided that Qeme would be an excellent spot. When the preparations for the Institute started, early in 1987, we could not have guessed how timely the subject actually was. Of course, the recently dis- covered QPO phenomena in accreting neutron stars and half a dozen binary and millisecond radio pulsars known at the time formed one of the basic motivations for organizing this Institute. But none of us could have guessed that later in 1987 we were to witness the wonderful discovery of the binary and millisecond radio pulsars in globular clusters and, -as if Nature wished to give us a special present for this the discovery in March 1988 of a millisecond pulsar in an eclipsing binary Institu- system, the first eclipsing radio pulsar ever found, and the second fastest in the sky! The discussion of this pulsar, its formation and fate was one of the highlights of this meeting, especially since its discoverers were among the participants of the Institute and could provide us with first-hand information.