IAU symposium 165 'Compact Stars in Binaries' was held from 15 through 19 August 1994, as part of the 22nd General Assembly of the IAU in The Hague. The symposium, supported by IAU Commissions 35,37,44 and 48, and co-sponsored by Commission 42, was attended by about 400 to 500 participants. This symposium received support from: - The International Astronomical Union; - The Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences; - The Netherlands Ministery of Education and Science; - The Leids Kerkhoven Bosscha Fonds; - The Stichting Fysica. The field of compact stars in binaries is one of the most active areas of present-day astrophysics. An absolute highlight of the last few years was the 1993 Nobel Prize of physics, awarded to Taylor and Hulse for their discovery of the binary pulsar PSR 1913+ 16, and the measurement of the orbital decay of this system due to the emission of gravitational waves. The aim of the organizers of the symposium was to present an overview of the most significant observational discoveries of the past decade, in com­ bination with a review of the most important theoretical developments. We were very happy that most of the world's leading experts in observation and theory were present at the symposium to review the various aspects of the subject. The contents of their oral presentations are now published in the form of these proceedings, which we expect to become an important source of reference for the coming years.

1 Binary Evolution.- Common-Envelope Evolution, the Formation of CVs, LMXBs, and the Fate of HMXBs.- Hydrodynamic Evolution of Coalescing Compact Binaries.- The Structure and Evolution of Thorne-?ytkow Objects.- Mechanisms for Dwarf Nova Outbursts and Soft X-ray Transients (A Critical Review).- Spin Evolution of the Progenitors of Binary and Millisecond Pulsars.- The Reaction of Low-Mass Stars to Anisotropic Irradiation and its Implications for the Secular Evolution of Cataclysmic Binaries.- The Evolutionary Status of PSR 1718-19.- The Ecology of Magnetic Rotators.- The Formation and Evolution of Black-Hole Binaries.- 2 Supernovae in Binaries.- Type Ib/c supernovae and their Relation to Binary Stars.- The Origin of Type Ib-Ic-IIb-IIL Supernovae and Binary Star Evolution.- The Environments of Type Ib/c Supernovae.- Type II Supernovae in Binary Systems.- 3 Gravitational waves from Binaries.- Gravitational Waves from Compact Bodies.- 4 Radio Pulsars.- Planets around Pulsars.- Timing of Millisecond Pulsars.- Pulsar Velocities.- A Review of Galactic Millisecond Pulsar Searches.- The Local Low-Mass Binary Pulsar Population.- Models for the Formation of Binary and Millisecond Pulsars.- Pulsar/Supernova Remnant Associations.- Periastron Observations of the PSR B1259-63/SS 2883 Binary System.- Timing Observations of the SMC Binary PSR J0045-7319.- The Masses of the Neutron Stars in M15C.- 5 X-ray Binaries.- High-Mass X-ray Binaries: Recent Developments.- Low-Mass X-ray Binaries - Recent Developments.- Aperiodic Flux Variability in A 0535+262.- ASCA Observations of White Dwarfs, Neutron Stars and Black Holes.- ROSAT Observations of Soft X-ray Transients in Quiescence.- Black-Hole Systems: Optical Spectroscopy and IR Photometry.- Optical Photometry of Black-HoleCandidates.- Discovery of a New X-ray Transient in Scorpius (GRO J1655-40 ? X-ray Nova Scorpii 1994).- The Radio Outburst from GRO J1655-40.- 6 Binaries in Globular Clusters.- Dynamics and Binary (Trans)formation in Globular Clusters.- ROSAT Observations of Globular Clusters in the Galaxy and in M31.- 7 Cataclysmic Variables.- AM Herculis Binaries.- Luminous Supersoft X-ray Sources.- Supersoft ROSAT Sources in the Galaxies.- Supersoft X-ray Sources in the LMC.- Are Supersoft X-ray Sources Consistent with White Dwarfs?.- Propellors-A New Class of Interacting Binaries.- Analysis of Long-Term AAVSO Observations of RS Ophiuchi.- 8 Gamma-ray Bursts.- Gamma-ray Bursts: Observational Overview.- Soft Gamma Repeaters Revisited with BATSE.- Gamma-ray Bursts and Binary Neutron Star Mergers.- Author index.- Object index.- Listing of Poster Papers.