The role of high pressure experiments in the discovery of supercon­ ducting materials with a T. above liquid nitrogen temperature has demon­ strated the importance of such experiments. The same role holds true in the tailoring of materials for optoelectronic devices. In addition, much progress has been made recently in the search for metallic hydro­ gen, and the application of high pressure in polymer research has brought forth interesting results. These facts together with the suc­ cess of previous small size meetings (such as the "First International Conference on the Physics of Solids at High Pressure", held in 1965 in Tucson, Arizona, U. S. A. ; "High Pressure and Low Temperature Physics", held in 1977 in Cleveland, Ohio, U. S. A. ; and "Physics of Solids Under High Pressure", held in 1981 in bad Honnef, Germany), motivated us to organize a workshop with emphasis on the newest results and trends in these fields of high pressure research. Furthermore, it was intended to mix experienced and young scien­ tists to realize an idea best expressed in a letter by Prof. Weinstein: "I think it is an excellent idea. I have often felt that the number of excellent young researchers in the high pressure field need an opportu­ nity to put forward their work with due recognition. " Thanks to the support of the key speakers, we were able to achieve this goal and had more than 50\ young participants.