Author Description

This volume, number 16 in the Space Sciences Series of ISSI, reviews the present knowledgeonmanyaspectsofthehistoryofthesolarsystem. Itfocuses onisotopic signatures ofvolatile elements as tracers for the evolutionary processes during the formation of the Sun and the planets from an interstellar molecular cloud and, in tum, illuminates how the isotopic compositions of present-day solar system ob- jects had been established. This integrated collection of articles complements the information provided by previous ISSI volumes such as From Dust to Terrestrial Planets and Chronology and Evolution of Mars, expanding the time scale for the history ofthe solar system. The convenors, Therese Encrenaz, Observatoire de Paris, Meudon; Johannes Geiss, ISSI, Bern; Reinald Kallenbach, ISSI, Bern; Konrad Mauersberger, Max- Planck-Institut fUr Kernphysik, Heidelberg; Tobias Owen, University of Hawaii, Honolulu; and Fran ois Robert, CNRS-Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, in- vited experts in planetary science, solar and heliospheric physics, astrophysics, mineralogy, and chemistry to an interdisciplinary workshop in Bern, 14-18 Jan- uary 2002. The resulting review articles are grouped into four sections 'Sun and Protosolar Nebula', 'Outer Solar System', 'Earth, Terrestrial Planets, and Moon', and 'Isotopic FractionationProcesses'.