  As a scientific discipline, Astronomy is rather unique. We only have one
laboratory, the Universe, and we cannot, of course, change the initial
conditions and study the resulting effects. On top of this, acquiring
Astronomical data has historically been a very labor-intensive effort. As a
result, data has traditionally been preserved for posterity. With recent
technological advances, however, the rate at which we acquire new data has
grown exponentially, which has generated a Data Tsunami, whose wave train
threatens to overwhelm the field. In this conference proceedings, we present
and define the concept of virtual observatories, which we feel is the only
logical answer to this dilemma.
