BIB-VERSION:: AST-PP-v1.0
ID:: epreps.stsci//prep1200
ENTRY:: March 9, 1998
TITLE::  Cosmological Parameters and the Evolution of the Universe: Progress and Prospects 
SUBTITLE:: 
AUTHOR:: Longair, Malcolm S.
AFFIL:: (1) Space Telescope Science Institute    3700 San Martin Drive    Baltimore, MD 21218    USA
AFFIL:: (2) Cavendish Laboratory, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK
DATE:: December 1997
JOURNAL:: To appear in: 
SUBMITTED::
ACCEPTED::
OTHER_ACCESS:: 
COPYRIGHT:: Copyright 1997 The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
LANGUAGE:: English
ABSTRACT::

<B>Introduction:</B> I have been invited by the organisers to provide
an overall perspective on the subject of this Symposium.  Necessarily,
this will be a subjective impression of topics in which there has been
quite remarkable progress since the last General
 Assembly of the IAU, and which are of the greatest interest for the
whole of science. In preparing a review of such an enormous field, one
veers between optimism and pessimism about the successes and problems
which have arisen.  I hope to steer a realistic course between these
extremes. Fortunately, there are many experts participating in this
Symposium who will be able to neutralise my personal biases and
provide authoritative opinions on all the topics I will cover.
 <P>

I will divide the review into four sections:
<OL>
<LI> The cosmological infrastructure;
<LI> The cosmological parameters;
<LI> The formation of galaxies and the large-scale structure of the Universe;
<LI>  Observations of distant objects.
</OL>

References to the authors of relevant reviews presented at the
Symposium are indicated in upper-case letters in square brackets.

END:: epreps.stsci//prep1200