The aim of the present book will be to provide a comprehensive account of our present knowledge of the theory of dynamical phenomena exhibited by elose binary systems; and on the basis of such phenomena as have been attested by available observations to outline probable evolutionary trends of such systems in the course of time. The evolution of the stars - motivated by nuelear as weIl as gravitation al energy sources - constitutes nowadays a well-established branch of stellar astronomy. No theo ries of such an evolution are as yet sufficently specific - let alone infallible - not to require...

Our conference - opening today - has two aims in view: first, to commemorate some milestones in the development of the studies of close binary systems whose anniversaries fall in these years, as well as to take stock of our present knowledge accumulated through out preceding decades, in order to consider where do we go from here. This summer, 310 years will have elapsed since the first ec lipsing binary - Algol - was discovered in Bologna by Geminiano Montanari (1633-1687) to be a variable star; and 198 years have gone by since John Goodricke of York (1764-1786) established the fact that...