Progress in the science of volcanology tends to be episodic and governed by accidents of nature—the volcanic eruptions themselves. Although recent years have not been marked by events as dramatic as those of Mount St. Helens in 1980 or Pinatubo in 1991, for the first time several submarine eruptions have been monitored. Further, ongoing eruptions at Kilauea since 1983 and Montserrat since 1994 have provided unprecedented opportunity to monitor eruptive processes and the underground movement of magma. In addition to this progress based upon direct observation, numerical and analog experiments have led to breakthroughs in understanding the mechanisms of explosive eruptions. Finally, recent symposia on the nature of ocean island volcanism and long lava flows have resulted in advanced understanding of those phenomena.