The first ideas for the symposium were generated in Brussels in the summer of 1986, dur ing exquisite lunches in between HST proposal consortium meetings. At the time it was expected that soon after the previous IAU symposium (No. 116) devoted to luminous hot massive stars, a bonanza of new exciting observational material would become available, together with significant advances on the theoretical front. Also it was felt that Wolf Rayet stars should feature predominantly, because that had not been the case since IAU Symposium No. 99 in 1981. Tradition requires that IAU symposia on hot massive stars take place in high lumi nosity beach resorts, and after Buenos Aires, Qualicum Beach, Cozumel and Porto Heli, Bali sounded like a reasonable place. Therefore we were only too pleased with the invitation of the Indonesian astronomical community to host the symposium in Sanur (Denpasar). The aim of the symposium was to bring together both observers and theoreticians active in the field of Wolf-Rayet stars and related objects, to present and discuss their recent results, in order to expose to what extent consensus exists as to the physical and chemical properties of Wolf-Rayet stars, their evolutionary status and their interrelations with other massive stars in galaxies."

The Bosscha Observatory in Lembang, Java, Indonesia, celebrated in 1983 its 60th anniversary. Since its foundation, the physical properties of binary systems have formed a major research topic of this observatory. Until 1970, the study of visual binaries and the determination of orbits received most emphasis. Since then, also the evolution of close binary systems, such as X-ray binaries, Wolf-Rayet binaries and binary pulsars, has been researched with priority in Lembang. It seemed thus appropriate that a Colloquium devoted to the study of binary systems be held in Lembang at the time of the Observatory's anniversary. In the Colloquium, the role of wide double (and multiple) systems received special emphasis - not only because of the long tradition of visual binary research at Lembang; but also because their role in documenting stellar evolution has been largely overlooked in recent decades, and needs to be brought into focus with the information forthcoming from close binaries. The Colloquium covered the physical properties of visual as well as close binary systems, and their generic relations, in the broadest possible sense. It was sponsored by the International Astronomical Union as IAU Colloquium No. 80 ('Double Stars, Physical Properties and Generic Relations'). After the official opening ceremony, the meeting started with a discussion on the future of astronomy in Asia. The scientific sessions began with the 'V. Bappu Memorial Lecture on the Evolution of Binary Systems', presented by Z. Kopal.

The first ideas for the symposium were generated in Brussels in the summer of 1986, dur ing exquisite lunches in between HST proposal consortium meetings. At the time it was expected that soon after the previous IAU symposium (No. 116) devoted to luminous hot massive stars, a bonanza of new exciting observational material would become available, together with significant advances on the theoretical front. Also it was felt that Wolf Rayet stars should feature predominantly, because that had not been the case since IAU Symposium No. 99 in 1981. Tradition requires that IAU symposia on hot massive stars take place in high lumi nosity beach resorts, and after Buenos Aires, Qualicum Beach, Cozumel and Porto Heli, Bali sounded like a reasonable place. Therefore we were only too pleased with the invitation of the Indonesian astronomical community to host the symposium in Sanur (Denpasar). The aim of the symposium was to bring together both observers and theoreticians active in the field of Wolf-Rayet stars and related objects, to present and discuss their recent results, in order to expose to what extent consensus exists as to the physical and chemical properties of Wolf-Rayet stars, their evolutionary status and their interrelations with other massive stars in galaxies."