As president of the organizing committee of this meeting I was granted the honor of opening the conference. But despite appearances I was only a figurehead that Jean-Paul Zahn somehow decided to set up. Whatever his motivation was, his execution was excellent and my first remark must be an expression of my admiration for the marvelous job that he and his associates have done in providing all the spiritual, intellectual, and material advantages that we found waiting for us in Nice. Let me assure you though, that a token president is not without uses and I wish I had known this before accepting the job. I spent the days before and during the conference running routine errands, carrying luggage, and being reprimanded for some of the minor things that inevitably must go wrong in many large gatherings. I was even scolded because the name of someone who had not said he was coming was omitted from the list of participants. And when the time was running short during the meeting, I was obliged, in a statesmanlike gesture, to cut my scheduled one-hour talk to eight minutes. But rank has its privileges and mine was to be informed of the guiding principles behind the organization of the conference. Permit me now to share these with you.