More than 20 years ago V. A. Ambartsumian proposed that much of the activity in galaxies was dominated and even generated by their nuclei. Subsequent observational work in radio, optical and x-ray frequencies has borne out his prophecy, and major interest has centered about the nature of the machine in the galactic nucleus. The major characteristic of this machine is that it releases energy rapidly and often spasmodically by processes which are not thermonuclear in origin.

The original studies which led to the conclusion that nuclei were all important were observations of the powerful radio sources and Seyfert galaxies, and evidence for the ejection of gas from galaxies of many types. The realization that the synchrotron mechanism was the dominant radiation mechanism and the later studies of Compton radiation were fundamental in leading to the conclusion that large fluxes of relativistic particles must be generated in galactic nuclei.