Summary of the Conference on States * l Electronic Density of

It is very diffi cult to summarize a conference such as thi s, involving as it did a many sple ndored array of topics, both experimental and theore ti cal , expounded in no less than ninety papers. The organization of a con· ference of such size is ordinarily impossible without resort to simultaneous sessions. Whe n there are simultaneous sessions, of course, it is easier for a single sum marizer because he can only be at one place at one time and therefore can be excused for failing to do justi ce to half of the pape rs. It is also easier for the audience because if you permit people to resonate be tween ses sions, you also allow them to become trapped in the halls, advertently or inadvertently as the case may be. However, through the devilish cleverness of the organizers of the present conference, a goodly fraction of the papers were delivered by a rapporte ur. Accordingly , the en tire audience, including the summarizer were exposed to everything during a period of three and a half hard-workin g and elaborately or ganized days. Furthermore, I lose my excuse for having overlooked, as I undoubtedly did , some of the important new developments presented or presaged here. As it is , in the time of thirty-two minutes that have been allotted to me it is, of course, impossible to me nAt the outset , let me thank the organizers on behalf of everyone attending it for providing us with an outs tandin g scien tifi c program that clearly focussed on the principal questions whi ch those of us who are grappling with the electronic structure of conde nsed matter are facing. During the tim e when we were not riding buses or liste ning to papers, there was also a most pleasant social program, and mercifully, a few hours for sleep. I would regard the title of the present symposium, " Electronic Density of States" a leitmotif rather than an idee fixe because the subject matter presented at the conference in fact was far more general tha n might be implied by the title. Si nce the de nsity of states is very influential in the determination of many basic physical properties, it provides an excelle nt focal point for presenting some of the more recent developments in the electronic properties of condensed matter.