Experimental results on the electroweak interaction

Recent results from the four experiments ALEPH, DELPHI, L3 and OPAL at the Large Electron-Positron collider, LEP at CERN, and by the SLD collaboration at the Stanford Linear Collider, SLC, are reviewed. Analyses from an integ rated luminosity of about 150 pb(-1) recorded by each experiment at LEP, ta ken at different centre-of-mass energies within +/-3 GeV around the peak of the Z resonance during the years 1989 to 1995 are available now. Repeated accurate calibrations of the beam energy lead to precise measurements of th e mass and of the total width of the Z boson. These results are complemente d by measurements at the Z resonance with polarised beams at Stanford. Firs t results from an integrated luminosity of close to 100 pb(-1) per experime nt above the threshold for W boson pair production were also presented rece ntly by the LEP collaborations. Together with measurements of the top quark and W boson masses at the Tevatron p (p) over bar collider at Fermilab the se results provide tests of the Standard Model of the electroweak interacti on with unprecedented precision and permit to place stringent limits on the mass of the Higgs boson, the last free parameter of the model.