Silicon chemistry was initiated in 1823 by Berzelius who prepared elemental silicon. In many ways silicon was considered a typical opposite of carbon, although the two elements are closely related as to their electronic structure, both having four valence electrons. The properties of their compounds are, however, extreme- ly different. Both form extended structures, but in different ways - carbon by covalent carbon-carbon bonds; silicon by polar silicon- -oxygen-silicon bonds. The complex carbon compounds are integral parts of all living matter, plants and animals. The corresponding silicon...

Ladies and Gentlemen, dear guests, It is my great pleasure and privilege to extend our heartiest wel come to you, the participants of this 33rd Nobel symposium. To those of you who have not attended a Nobel symposium before I would like just briefly to explain why Nobel's name is linked to this series of symposia. Alfred Nobel, who died in San Remo in 1896, donated the main part of his fortune to the promotion of in ternational science and culture by establishing annual prizes for outstanding discoveries or contributions within five fields, che mistry, physics, physiology or medicine,...

Nobel Symposium No. 30 on the Physics of the Hot Plasma in the Magnetosphere was held at Kiruna Geophysical Institute, Kiruna, Sweden from April 2-4, 1975. Some 40 leading experts from America, USSR, and Western Europe attended the Symposium. The purpose of the meeting was to review and discuss the physics of the hot plasma in the magnetosphere with special empha sis on unsolved problems on which attention needs to be focused during the International Magnetospheric Study 1976-1978. The field is very extensive and complete coverage of all aspects was of course not possible. The radiation belts...

According to the classical concept of Geoffrey Harris the pituitary gland is controlled by the brain by means of blood-borne chemical messengers produced by central neurons. The recent isolation and structural characterization of several such messengers by Roger Guillemin and Andrew Schally and their collaborators brought the final proof for this hypothesis. This also meant that the extensive knowledge collected in the field of neurobiology now became highly relevant for the endocrinologists. For this reason it was felt important to organize a symposium which brought together experts in the...

The 55th Nobel Symposium entitled "Genetics of the Immune Response" took place in Saltsjobaden, Sweden, June 15 - 17, 1982. The topic was selected for several reasons, such as the rapid progress in the genetic analysis of immunoglobulin and MHC genes and the elucidation of the mechanism of switch to different immunoglobulin classes and subclasses. The genetic advances formed a basis for discussions of problems relating to regulation of T cell subsets, mechanisms of activation and regulation of B cell differentiation and an analysis of the network hypothesis. The format of the symposium was...

Since 1965 the Nobel Foundation sponsors, through grants from the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Fund, Sym- posia on subjects which are considered to be of central scientific importance and for which new results of a special interest have been reached. The aim of these Symposia is to bring together, by personal invitation, a limited number of leading scientists from various countries to discuss the current research situation within the field and to define the most urgent problems to be solved. One of the most important fields in modern biome- dical research concerns the structure and function of...

A Nobel Foundation Symposium on the subject: "Nonlinear Effects 1n Plasmas," was held at Aspenasgarden, Lerum, in the G6teborg area of Sweden from June 11-17, 1976. The Symposium was the 36th in the series of Nobel Foundation Symposia, which have been held mainly within the areas of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace prizes. Some 30 leading experts from the United States, Soviet Union, Japan and Western Europe attended the Symposium. The purpose of the Symposium was to discuss various topics in the field of modern plasma physics. We had to select from this vast area of active...

Nobel symposium No. 54 on High Latitude Magnetospheric/Iono- spheric Plasma Physics was organized in Kiruna, Sweden on March 22-25, 1982 by Kiruna Geophysical Institute and EISCAT Scientific Association. Some 50 leading experts from Western Europe, America and USSR were invited to the Symposium. One main purpose of the Symposium was to prepare for the intense European research effort in space plasma physics in the middle 1980's, in which the EISCAT facilities and the Swedish satellite Viking are two of the more important constituents. The prograuune of the symposium was tied to the physics of...

Nobel Symposium No 31 on The Impact of Space Science on Man- kind was held at Spatind, Norway, September 7 - 12, 1975. Twenty- seven leading experts from the United States, the U. S. S. R. and Western Europe attended the Symposium. Four main subjects were discussed: The Impact of Space Science, introduced by Profe. ssor Reimar Lust; The Impact of Space Communica- tion, ihtroduced by Dr Joseph Charyk; The Impact of Earth Resources Exploration from Space, introduced by Dr William Nordberg; and The Impact of Space Assisted Meteorology, introduced by Dr Robert M White. This book contains edited...