Instabilities, Bifurcations, and Fluctuations in Chemical SystemsTwentieth century research in the field of chemical pattern formation saw extraordinary progress due to the pathbreaking contributions of Nobel laureate Ilya Prigogine and his co workers. Evidence exists that the dissipative structures studied by Prigogine and his colleagues may play a dominant role in the processes of self organization of biological systems, the fundamental phenomena that govern all life forms. Brought together in this valuable