When the Executive Committee of the International Astronomical Union asked me, in 1968, to organize a Symposium on White Dwarfs it became evident that members of at least four Commissions of the IAU should participate, and that the most oppor­ tune place, and time to hold such a Symposium would be somewhere in the British Isles and just preceding the Fourteenth General Assembly at Brighton in August, 1970. After a preliminary correspondence with Dr. D. W. N. Stibbs it was decided to accept his invitation to hold the Symposium at St. Andrews University, Scotland, while the dates 11-13 August 1970 were selected. I am sure I speak for all the partici­ pants of the Symposium when I express our deep gratitude to Dr. Stibbs for the admirable way in which he planned and organized this meeting down to the smallest details - the success of the conference is due in no small measure to his continuous and painstaking efforts. An organizing committee was formed, consisting of O. J. Eggen (Photometry), J. L. Greenstein (Spectroscopy), A. G. Masevitch (Stellar Interiors), V. Weidemann (Stellar Atmospheres), D. W. N. Stibbs (local chairman), with myself (Proper Motions and Parallaxes) as overall chairman.

Inhalt

1. The White Dwarfs. Discovery and Observation.- 2. Red Subluminous Stars.- 3. Parallaxes of White Dwarfs.- 4. Trigonometrical Parallaxes of LB 3303 and LB 3459.- 5. The Identification of White Dwarf Suspects in the Lowell Proper Motion Program.- 6. An Astrometric Study of van Maanen's Star.- 7. The White Dwarfs in the Catalogue of Nearby Stars of 1969.- 8. High Frequency Stellar Oscillations. IV: Photoelectric Monitoring of Southern White Dwarfs.- 9. New Spectroscopic Results on Subluminous Stars, V.- 10. Objective Prism Surveys for New White Dwarfs.- 11. Effective Temperatures of White Dwarfs.- 12. The Nuclei of Planetary Nebulae as Progenitors of White Dwarfs.- 13. The Polarization of Radiation from White Dwarfs.- 14. White Dwarf Atmospheres.- 15. Cooling of White Dwarfs.- 16. The Line Spectra of White Dwarfs.- 17. On the Origin of White Dwarfs.- 18. Model Atmospheres for Hydrogen-deficient White Dwarfs.- 19. Convection Zones and Coronae of White Dwarfs.- 20. Gravitational Sorting and Overstability in White Dwarfs.- 21. Models of White Dwarfs, Radial Pulsations and Vibrational Stability.- 22. Projections into the Future.