The biennial International Near Infrared Spectroscopy Conferences organised under the auspices of the International Committee for Near Infrared Spectroscopy (ICNIRS) are an essential forum for scientists involved in near infrared spectroscopy and technology. The latest in the series, NIR-97, was held in Essen, Germany, in September 1997 and attracted a record attendance. The Proceedings of the conferences have always been an invaluable reference for those already working in the field, for newcomers or those interested in finding out what NIR spectroscopy has to offer.

Near infrared spectroscopy continues to grow in importance as an analytical technique, and to find new applications. Its ability to provide answers to practical problems quickly, simply and cheaply, without the use of harmful chemicals, has guaranteed its success in many industries. An increasing amount of academic research is being undertaken into the theory behind NIR, and this and its practical applications are covered in this publication.

An invaluable addition to the Proceedings is a CD-ROM containing all the papers in Adobe® Acrobat® PDF format. This enables every word of the 110 papers to be searched very rapidly, and provides an easy way to access the wealth of material in the Proceedings of NIR-97 from your PC. The Acrobat Reader software is provided on the CD-ROM in various language and computer platform options, but please note that the CD-ROM has only been tested with MS Windows™ based PCs.