In these notes, first published in 1980, Professor Northcott provides a self-contained introduction to the theory of affine algebraic groups for mathematicians with a basic knowledge of communicative algebra and field theory. The book divides into two parts. The first four chapters contain all the geometry needed for the second half of the book which deals with affine groups. Alternatively the first part provides a sure introduction to the foundations of algebraic geometry. Any affine group has an associated Lie algebra. In the last two chapters, the author studies these algebras and shows how, in certain important cases, their properties can be transferred back to the groups from which they arose. These notes provide a clear and carefully written introduction to algebraic geometry and algebraic groups.

Peter Dembowski was born in Berlin on April 1, 1928. After studying mathematics at the University of Frankfurt of Main, he pursued his graduate studies at Brown Unviersity and the University of Illinois, mainly with R. Baer. Dembowski returned to Frankfurt in 1956. Shortly before his premature death in January 1971, he had been appointed to a chair at the University of Tuebingen. Dembowski taught at the universities of Frankfurt and Tuebingen and - as visiting Professor - in London (Queen Mary College), Rome, and Madison, WI. Dembowski's chief research interest lay in the connections between finite geometries and group theory. His book "Finite Geometries" brought together essentially all that was known at that time about finite geometrical structures, including key results of the author, in a unified and structured perspective. This book became a standard reference as soon as it appeared in 1968. It influenced the expansion of combinatorial geometric research, and left its trace also in neighbouring areas.

Applications of Group Theory to Combinatorics contains 11 survey papers from international experts in combinatorics, group theory and combinatorial topology. The contributions cover topics from quite a diverse spectrum, such as design theory, Belyi functions, group theory, transitive graphs, regular maps, and Hurwitz problems, and present the state

Combinatorics has come of age. It had its beginnings in a number of puzzles which have still not lost their charm. Among these are EULER'S problem of the 36 officers and the KONIGSBERG bridge problem, BACHET's problem of the weights, and the Reverend T.P. KIRKMAN'S problem of the schoolgirls. Many of the topics treated in ROUSE BALL'S Recreational Mathe matics belong to combinatorial theory. All of this has now changed. The solution of the puzzles has led to a large and sophisticated theory with many complex ramifications. And it seems probable that the four color problem will only be solved in terms of as yet undiscovered deep results in graph theory. Combinatorics and the theory of numbers have much in common. In both theories there are many prob lems which are easy to state in terms understandable by the layman, but whose solution depends on complicated and abstruse methods. And there are now interconnections between these theories in terms of which each enriches the other. Combinatorics includes a diversity of topics which do however have interrelations in superficially unexpected ways. The instructional lectures included in these proceedings have been divided into six major areas: 1. Theory of designs; 2. Graph theory; 3. Combinatorial group theory; 4. Finite geometry; 5. Foundations, partitions and combinatorial geometry; 6. Coding theory. They are designed to give an overview of the classical foundations of the subjects treated and also some indication of the present frontiers of research.