Every four years the photobio1ogists of the world get together in an International Congress. They discuss and learn not only re- search details and findings in their own, often narrow, fields but educate one another broadly in the many biological systems that interact with light. It is this latter purpose that is exemplified by these proceedings - the Symposium papers and Workshop summaries of the VIIth International Congress on Photobiology held in Rome, August 29 - September 3, 1976. Photobiology is one of the few true interdisciplinary fields. It has an air of excitement about it. A glance...

The First International Congress on DNA Damage and Repair was held in Rome, Italy, July 12-17, 1987. It was organized by the Italian Com- mission for Nuclear Alternative Energy Sources. The subject of DNA damage and repair involves almost all the fields ofbidogical sciences. Some of the more prominent ones include carcino- genesis, photobiology, radiation biology, aging, enzymology, genetics, and molecular biology. These individual fields have their own interna- tional meetings and although the meetings often have sessions devoted to DNA repair, they do not bring together a wide diversity of...

The study of the interaction between light and matter has played a fundamental role in the development of natural sciences. Synchrotron radiation has characteristics of intensity, width and continuity of Jave length range, time structure, tunability and polarization which are far superior to those of most other sources. It is possible with synchrotron radiation to perform experiments Jhich could previously be only thought about and to routinely carry out measureEents Jhich were once made only with great dif- ficulties. The study of the enormously complicated but imF-ensely interesting...