How old is our Universe? At what speed is our Universe expanding? Is our universe flat or curved? How is the hierarchical structure of the present Universe formed? The purpose of IAU Symposium 183 on the Cosmological Parameters and the Evolution of the Universe was to encourage a state-of-the-art discussion and assessment of cosmology by putting together the latest observational data and theoretical ideas on the evolution of the universe and cosmological parameters. In this volume, excellent reviews on these subjects by distinguished scientists are included. The first article by M.S. Longair, Cosmological Parameters and the Evolution of the Universe: Progress and Prospect', is a magnificent general review which can be understood by non-specialists. The other reviews include Hubble Constants (W.L. Freedman, G.A. Tammann), Microwave Background Radiation (R.B. Partridge, N. Sugiyama), Galaxy Formation and Evolution (R.S. Ellis) and Alternative Cosmological Models (J.V. Narlikar). In addition to the reviews, recent observational and theoretical developments by outstanding active scientists are included.

The International Conference "Primordial Nucleosynthesis and Evolution of Early Universe" was held in the presence of Prof. William Fowler on 4 - 8 September 1990 at the Sanjo Conference Hall, the University of Tokyo. This conference was co-sponsored by IUPAP, the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics, and by the University of Tokyo. The number of participants was 156, 58 from 15 foreign countries and 98 from Japan. About 120 contributions were submitted orally or as posters. Originally this conference was planned as a small gathering on Primordial Nucleosynthesis as indicated in the title, since primordial nucleosynthesis is the most important probe of the early stage of the universe. As is well known, light element abundances strongly depend on the time evolution of temperature and density. In this sense we can say that primordial nucleosynthesis is both the thermometer and speedometer of the early universe. Moreover, recently it has been claimed that primordial nucleosynthesis is an indicator of inhomogeneity of the early universe too. Now research of the primordial nucleosynthesis is in a boom. We, however, decided to include observational cosmology, of observations. taking into account the recent remarkable results Nowadays, to reveal the large scale structure of the universe and discover its origin is a main subject in cosmology. We invited distinguished scientists from all over the world, and very fortunately almost all these people accepted to attend this conference.

How old is our Universe? At what speed is our Universe expanding? Is our universe flat or curved? How is the hierarchical structure of the present Universe formed? The purpose of IAU Symposium 183 on the Cosmological Parameters and the Evolution of the Universe was to encourage a state-of-the-art discussion and assessment of cosmology by putting together the latest observational data and theoretical ideas on the evolution of the universe and cosmological parameters. In this volume, excellent reviews on these subjects by distinguished scientists are included. The first article by M.S. Longair, `Cosmological Parameters and the Evolution of the Universe: Progress and Prospect', is a magnificent general review which can be understood by non-specialists. The other reviews include Hubble Constants (W.L. Freedman, G.A. Tammann), Microwave Background Radiation (R.B. Partridge, N. Sugiyama), Galaxy Formation and Evolution (R.S. Ellis) and Alternative Cosmological Models (J.V. Narlikar). In addition to the reviews, recent observational and theoretical developments by outstanding active scientists are included.