The idea to hold a conference on the Evolution of Close-Binary X-ray sources grew in the summer of 1984. At that time we were hoping that some new results would be harvested in the months to come which would stimulate further work. We were particularly looking towards the Euro pean X-ray Observatory, EXOSAT, for new contributions. How lucky we were; quite unexpected developments took place. Just prior to the conference, quasi-periodic oscillations (now known as QPO) were discovered in three bright low-mass X-ray binaries: GX 5-1, Sco X-1, and Cyg X-2. They played an important role at the...

Gas at temperatures exceeding one million degrees is common in the Universe. Indeed it is likely that most of the gas in the Universe exists in intergalactic space in this form. Such highly-ionized gas, or plasma, is not restricted to the rarefied densities of intergalactic space, but is also found in clusters of galaxies, in galaxies themselves, in the expanding remnants of exploded stars and at higher densities in stars and the collapsed remains of stars up to the highest densities known, which occur in neutron stars. The abundant lower-Z elements, at least, in such gas are completely...

The idea to hold a conference on the Evolution of Close-Binary X-ray sources grew in the summer of 1984. At that time we were hoping that some new results would be harvested in the months to come which would stimulate further work. We were particularly looking towards the Euro- pean X-ray Observatory, EXOSAT, for new contributions. How lucky we were; quite unexpected developments took place. Just prior to the conference, quasi-periodic oscillations (now known as QPO) were discovered in three bright low-mass X-ray binaries: GX 5-1, Sco X-1, and Cyg X-2. They played an important role at the...