This book is a collection of reviews and essays about the recent developments in the area of Symmetries and applications of Group Theory. Contributions have been written mostly at the graduate level but some are accessible to advanced undergraduates. The book is of interest to a wide audience and covers a broad range of topics with a strong degree of thematical unity. The book is part of a Series of books on Symmetries in Science and may be compared to the published Proceedings of the Colloquia on Group Theoretical Methods in Physics. Here, however, prevails a distinguished character for presenting extended reviews on present applications to Science, not restricted to Theoretical Physics.

Physics.

Proceedings of a symposium held in Landesbildungszentrum Schloss Hofen, Lochau, Vorarlberg, Austria, July 30-August 3, 1990

The Symposium "Symmetries in Science II" was held at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, during the period March 24-26, 1986, following the Einstein Centennial Symposium "Symmetries in Science" after a lapse of seven years. As it was the case for the original Symposium, the 1986 Symposium was truly interdisciplinary and truly international. I wish to thank all participants who made the. effort to come to Carbondale, Illinois, from allover the world. At this point I also wish to express my sincere thanks to Dr. Albert Somit, President of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, and Dr. John C. Guyon, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Research at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Their generous support and encouragement was instrumental in getting the Symposium organized. In addition I wish to thank Associate Vice President Charles B. Klasek, Dr. Russell R. Dutcher, Dean of the College of Science, John H. Yopp, Associate Dean, College of Science, Dr. Subir K. Bose, Chairman of the Physics Department, Dr. James Tyrrell, Chairman of the Chemistry Department, Dr. Jared H. Dorn, Director of International Programs and Services, Dr. Rhonda Jo Vinson, Director of International and Economic Development, Dr. Tommy T. Dunagan, Vice President of Sigma Xi at Southern Illinois University, Dr. George Garoian, Professor of Zoology, Dr. Ann Phillippi, Assistant Professor of Zoology and Dr. Linda R. Gannon, Coordinator of Women's Studies, for their support and assistance.

Nicely printed and bound proceedings of a major symposium contain 29 reviews of highly diverse developments in the world of symmetry, plus 14 rather briefer research papers. The variety of the topics treated and the authority of the contributors suggest that most physical theorists will find here so

The Symposium "Symmetries in Science VII: Spectrum Generating Algebras and Dynamic Symmetries in Physics" was held at the Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in Niigata, Japan Campus, during the period August 28-31, 1992. The Symposium was held in honor of Professor Francesco lachello on the occasion of his 50th birthday. We wish to thank the colleagues and friends of Franco for their participation in the Symposium as well as for contributing articles to this volume honoring him. It was their commitment and involvement which made this Symposium a success. We also wish to thank Dr. Jared H. Dorn, the director of SIUC-N, for his support in the planning and the execution of the Symposium. Moreover we wish to thank Mayor Nobuo Kumakura of Nakajo town and Mr. Kaichi Suzuki of the school entity "The Pacific" for their friendly support. Bruno Gruber, SIUC-N Takaharu Otsuka, University of Tokyo v LAUDATIO ON THE OCCASION OF THE 50TH BIRTHDAY OF PROFESSOR FRANCESCO IACHELLO I first met Franco lachello in 1974. Driving a smart Alfa-Romeo, he came to meet me at the station at Groningen where I was to spend a summer conducting research.