189th Symposium of the International Astronomical Union

This Symposium began with a proposal for a meeting to honour Emer­ itus Professor Robert Hanbury Brown on the occasion of his 80th birthday. He requested that any such meeting should be on a topic that would be of benefit to the Sydney University Stellar Interferometer (SUSI) program. With SUSI and several other high angular resolution instruments either in operation or coming on line within the next decade, and with advances in astrometry, spectroscopy and in theoretical models of stellar atmospheres and interiors, it appeared to be both appropriate and timely to hold a symposium on "Fundamental Stellar Properties: the Interaction between Observation and Theory. " The emphasis of the meeting was on the critical assessment of the qual­ ity, accuracy, and prospects for improvement of the observational data and theoretical models, on the outstanding problems in stellar astrophysics, and on the feasibility of achieving the observational and theoretical advances required for their solution. Invited papers comprised the major part of the oral program and the speakers responded to the challenge issued by the Scientific Organising Committee to critically review the current status and prospects for their area of expertise. The Symposium was opened by the Chancellor of the University of Sydney, Emeritus Professor Dame Leonie Kramer, who welcomed the 126 participants from 22 countries on behalf of the University. The oral program included . 52 invited reviews and papers and 10 contributed papers.