This EMS volume consists of two parts, written by leading scientists in the field of operator algebras and non-commutative geometry. The first part, written by M.Rordam, is on Elliott's classification
to the Encyclopaedia Subseries on Operator Algebras and Non-Commutative Geometry The theory of von Neumann algebras was initiated in a series of papers by Murray and von Neumann in the 1930's and 1940
