This volume contains the proceedings of the international conference “Galaxies in Isolation: Exploring Nature vs. Nurture” held in Granada Spain May 12–15, 2009. About 120 participants presented fifty oral and nearly sixty poster contributions.


The meeting was motivated by the growing interest in the effects of environment and interactions (i.e. “nurture”) on galaxy structure and evolution. We can learn something fundamental about the intrinsic properties of galaxies and how they formed from studies of the most isolated galaxies. This was the first conference to focus on the least “nurtured” galaxies in the Universe.


Conference topics covered an array of observational and theoretical issues. The conference began by addressing the definition of isolation as well as whether isolated galaxies really exist in significant numbers. Results of past and present searches for isolated galaxies were presented, followed by discussion of the current state of knowledge about isolated galaxy properties. Special consideration was given to the void “problem,” to the existence of isolated early-type galaxies, and to the possibility that some isolated ellipticals represent “fossil groups.” Sessions were also devoted to modeling “nature vs. nurture” in galaxy formation at both low and high redshift.


This volume will be of interest to extragalactic researchers, especially those involved in statistical studies of galaxy properties that could be affected by environment. The volume summarizes the past forty years of research in the field.