Abelian Groups and Modules: Proceedings of the Padova Conference, Padova, Italy, June 23–July 1, 1994 (Mathematics and Its Applications, 343)

On the 26th of November 1992 the organizing committee gathered together, at Luigi Salce's invitation, for the first time. The tradition of abelian groups and modules Italian conferences (Rome 77, Udine 85, Bressanone 90) needed to be kept up by one more meeting. Since that first time it was clear to us that our goal was not so easy. In fact the main intended topics of abelian groups, modules over commutative rings and non commutative rings have become so specialized in the last years that it looked really ambitious to fit them into only one meeting. Anyway, since everyone of us shared the same mathematical roots, we did want to emphasize a common link. So we elaborated the long symposium schedule: three days of abelian groups and three days of modules over non commutative rings with a two days' bridge of commutative algebra in between. Many of the most famous names in these fields took part to the meeting. Over 140 participants, both attending and contributing the 18 Main Lectures and 64 Communications (see list on page xv) provided a really wide audience for an Algebra meeting. Now that the meeting is over, we can say that our initial feeling was right.