QED effects in helium and comparisons with high precision experiment

A large body of work to calculate nonrelativistic energies, relativistic co rrections, and quantum electrodynamic (QED) energy shifts in helium is revi ewed and compared with experiment. Of particular significance are measureme nts of the QED (Lamb) shift for the low-lying S-states of helium, where the accuracy rivals the best measurements in the corresponding He+ hydrogenic ion. Progress in a program to extract a value for the fine structure consta nt alpha from a comparison between theory and experiment for the fine struc ture splittings of the helium 2 P-3(J) manifold of states is discussed. Ext ensions to three-electron systems such as lithium are briefly summarized.