Adriaan Blaauw; Emeritus Professor of Astronomy at the Universities of Groningen and Leiden, former Directo.r of the Kapteyn Laboratory and of the European Southern Observatory, celebrated his 70th anniversary on 12 April 1984. To mark this event, an international Symposium was con­ vened on the subject "Birth and Evolution of Massive Stars and Stellar Groups", a subject which has played the leading role in Blaauw's scien­ tific research. The present volume contains the Scientific Proceedings of that Symposium. The meeting was organized by a Committee consisting of: W.H.W.M. Boland (Secretary), W.N. Brouw, W.B. Burton, E.P.J. van den Heuvel, H. van der Laan and H. van Woerden (Chairman). Together, these six persons represented the Executive Committees of the Netherlands Foundation for Astronomical Research (ASTRON) and the Netherlands Foundation for Radio Astronomy (RZM), two organizations in which Blaauw has held key offices. The scientific program was planned in full consultation with Adri­ aan Blaauw himself. Only section 5, "A profile of Adriaan Blaauw", was kept secret to him. The other four sections: Structure of star-forming regions, Stellar content of young groups, Evolution of massive stars, and Extragalactic perspective on star formation, each represent an im­ portant aspect of the overall theme of the Symposium. The program in­ cluded 6 major review papers, 18 invited papers, 17 contributed papers, some of which were given as posters, and ample time for discussion.

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Welcoming Address.- 1: Structure of Star-Forming Regions.- The structure of star-forming regions- the ages of subgroups and the progression of star formation (R).- The nearest molecular clouds (I).- Gould's Belt and supershells (I) (Abstract).- Distribution and motion of young nearby stars as a function of age.- 2: Stellar Content of Young Groups.- Observable consequences of star formation in molecular clouds (R).- Near-infrared spectra of 11 T Tauri stars.- The turn-on point of the Pleiades cluster.- Two AOV stars on the zero-age main-sequence in the association Cha I (P).- Stellar associations and the regions of active star formation in them (R).- Evolution of massive stars: observational evidence (I).- Double stars in young stellar groups (I).- Photometric age determination of OB-associations (I).- 3: Evolution of Massive Stars.- Evolution of binary stars and the problem of the runaway stars (R).- Supernovae and pulsars (I).- The identification of massive supernova progenitors (I).- A decade of photometric monitoring of ? Carinae and an interpretation of its variability.- Stellar evolution in the Magellanic Clouds.- IRAS observations of Wolf-Rayet Stars.- The role of convective overshooting in the evolution of intermediate mass stars.- The evolution of massive close binaries with mass loss and overshooting (P).- Formation mechanisms of various groups of luminous stars (P).- The kinematics of pulsars (I).- Interaction of supernovae with the interstellar medium.- The kinematics and origin of the runaway O-type stars (I).- Progenitor systems of two neutron-star binaries (P).- The progenitors of the local pulsar population (I).- 4: Extragalactic Perspective on Star Formation.- Formation of massive stars and the structure of galaxies (R).- Large-scale dissociation ofmolecular gas and star formation in M83 (I).- HI holes in the interstellar medium of Messier 31.- Star formation in the Magellanic Clouds (I).- Magellanic interstellar physics and star formation (I).- The starburst phenomenon.- Oscillations and bursts in star-formation rates.- 5: A Profile of Adriaan Blaauw.- Blaauw's scientific work (R).- Blaauw and the cosmic distance scale.- Professor A. Blaauw and the International Astronomical Union (I).- Personal reminiscences of Adriaan Blaauw (I).- Blaauw and the European Southern Observatory (I).- Adriaan Blaauw and the revival of Groningen Astronomy (I).- Bibliography of Adriaan Blaauw, 1939-1985.- Object Index.- Name Index.