The Advanced Study Institute (ASI) on Nonlinear Phenomena-in Physics and Biology was held at the Banff Centre, Banff, Alberta, Canada, from 17 - 29 August, 1980. The Institute was made possible through funding by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (who sup­ plied the major portion of the financial aid), the National Research and Engineering Council of Canada, and Simon Fraser University. The availability of the Banff Centre was made possible through the co­ sponsorship (with NATO) of the ASI by the Canadian Association of Physicists. 12 invited lecturers and 82 other participants attended the Institute. Except for two lectures on nonlinear waves by Norman Zabusky, which were omitted because it was felt that they already had been exhaustively treated in the available literature, this volume contains the entire text of the invited lectures. In addition, short reports on some of the contributed talks have also been included. The rationale for the ASI and this resulting volume was that many of the hardest problems and most interesting phenomena being studied by scientists today ar.e nonlinear in nature. The nonlinear models involved often span several different disciplines, °a simple example being the Volterra-type model in population dynamics which has its analogue in nonlinear optics and plasma physics (the 3-wave problem), in the discussion of the social behavior of animals, and in biological competition and selection at the molecular level.