After the same pattern as the XIII th General Assembly of the International Astronom ical Union the present Volume of the Highlights in Astronomy contains the texts of the invited discourses given at the XIVth General Assembly held in Brighton, England, August 1970. It contains further the papers and discussion remarks presented at the six joint discussions, as well as the invited papers given at the special session on the Moon. In addition this Volume contains the papers given at the joint meeting of Commissions 24, 27, 30, 33 and 37 on RR Lyrae Stars. It goes without saying that the nearly hundred papers printed in this Volume represent only a minor part of all matter dealt with at the XIVth General Assembly of the Union; the many important discussions that took place in a few hundred commission meetings are not included. For short abstracts and reviews of these the reader is referred to Transactions of the International Astronomical Union XIVB. I wish to thank those who contributed to this Volume for the speed in submitting the manuscripts of their papers. This, together with the efficiency of the Publishers allowed for a rapid publication.
