BIG-BANG NUCLEOSYNTHESIS

The expanding Universe was hot and dense during its early evolution. I n the first thousand seconds the light nuclides D,(3) He,(4) He and Li -7 were synthesized and, hence, their observed abundances provide a wi ndow on the early Universe. The current status of the comparison betwe en the predicted and observed abundances is reviewed and the implicati ons for cosmology and for particle physics are summarized. The ''stand ard'' hot big bang model is alive and well and is providing valuable i nformation on the evolution of the Universe and, significant contraint s on high energy physics.