For this summer school in Athens, Greece, August 22-21, 1978, I took as my objective the presentation of a timely representative account of the application of infrared and Raman spectro scopy to biological molecules. A summer school is made up of a number of things -ideas, people, organization international collaboration and sponsorship. The exchange of ideas the student-lecturer interaction in the discussion periods and the tutorials satisfy the urgent need of all the participants to meet and discuss topics of current scientific interest. It seems therefore appropriate to publish this summer school proceedings in order to make it a lasting event and that appreciation be shown to those people and institutions that made it all possible. The summer school was held under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sciences under the sponsorship of the NATO Scientific Affairs Division in Brussels. In addition, support was provided by the National Hellenic Research Foundation and the Ministry of Culture and Sciences for several social and scientific functions.
