UC Irvine

A NATO Advanced Studies Institute on the Origins and Abundances of the Chemical Elements was held at the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, England from 23 July to 9 August 1974. The problems discussed there are the basis for this review. Three major areas can be identified. First, the normal distribution of chemical and isotopic abundances and deviations from it must be determined observationally. Second, the relevant nuclear processes and their sites and products must be identified. Third, a model of the evolution of galaxies which includes the relevant processes and produces the observed abundances must be formulated. There has been rapid progress recently in all three of these areas. © 1975 American Physical Society.