Introduction

The last meeting on the determination of radial velocities was held at the University of Toronto, June 20 - 2A 1966, eighteen years ago. Five of the participants of this meeting were present at that meeting; Abt, Batten, Bertiau, Fehrenbach and Griffin. The lead article was “Photoelectric Measurements of Radial Velocities” by Griffin, followed by “Radial Velocities From Image Tube Spectra” by Rubin, Ford and Christy. These were the major new methods of determining radial velocities. This meeting was planned to discuss the major advances made in the accuracy with which radial velocities can now be measured, and the applications of these methods to astronomical problems. I made a formal proposal at the Commission 30 meetings in Patras, Greece, to hold such a meeting in 1984 and the members of the commission ratified the idea. Subsequently, proposals were made to the Executive Committee of the IAU for sponsorship and to the National Science Foundation for financial support. Union College provided the first financial support and agreed to act as host for the meeting. The result of these activities is the presence of all of you in Schenectady for this meeting. I trust that it will be a productive meeting and I wish you all success with your deliberations.