This up-to-date review of the basic elements directly connected to the evolution of galaxies links data about remote galaxies to the observation of very old populations in our own galaxy. Young researchers and well-known specialists discuss the difficulties and remaining uncertainties of the problem.

An accessible introduction to globular clusters for graduate students, and a comprehensive and up-to-date reference for researchers.

This book is based partly on a. lecture course given at the University of Tri este, but mostly on my own research experience in the field of galactic chemical evolution. The subject of galactic chemical evolution was started and developed by Beat rice Tinsley in the seventies and now is a flourishing subject. This book is dedi cated to the chemical evolution of our Galaxy and aims at giving an up-to-date review of what we have learned since Tinsley's pioneering efforts. At the time of writing, in fact, books of this kind were not available with the exception of the excellent book by Bernard Pagel on "Nucleosynthesis and Chemical Evolution of Galaxies" (Cambridge University Press, 1997), and the subject of galactic chem ical evolution has appeared only as short chapters in books devoted to other subjects. Therefore, I felt that a book of this kind could be useful. The book summarizes the observational facts which allow us to reconstruct the chemical history of our Galaxy, in particular the abundances in stars and in terstellar medium; in the last decade, a great deal of observational work, mostly abundance determinations in stars in the solar vicinity, has shed light on the pro duction and distribution of chemical elements. Even more recently more abun dance data have accumulated for external galaxies at both low and high redshift, thus providing precious information on the chemical evolution of different types of galaxies and on the early stages of galaxy evolution.

This review of the most up-to-date observational and theoretical information concerning the chemical evolution of the Milky Way compares the abundances derived from field stars and clusters, giving information on the abundances and dynamics of gas.

"We take carbon for granted so much that we rarely consider how carbon's amazing properties lead to its ubiquity in the energy and fabric of life and human civilization. And yet we are now trying to decarbonize. This book gives an overview and analysis of some of the most pressing challenges and considerations in the area of decarbonization of economies. It does so from the perspective of chemistry and biology, and comes to the conclusion that we are likely to do more environmental damage by breaking free from carbon than if we embrace the impressive capacity that carbon-based energy-carriers and materials have for creating circular economies with zero net CO2 emissions. Biology has done this sustainably for 3.5 billion years, and we must learn from that enormous lesson"--

Proceedings of IAU S228 detailing progress in our knowledge of element production and evolution.