David Jewitt
Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822

Some of the most fundamental and topical questions in astronomy concern the origin and evolution of planetary systems. In the solar system, these questions are most directly addressed through observations of chemically and physically primitive bodies in which a record of the initial conditions may be preserved. The most primitive materials in the solar system reside near its outer edge, in a trans-Neptunian ring known as the Kuiper Belt and in a surrounding spherical cloud first postulated by Oort. These regions supply comets to the inner solar system and, in the case of the Kuiper Belt, preserve evidence of dynamical processes operative in the first 100 million years after formation. The Kuiper Belt is also a source of collisionally produced dust and may be analogous to the dusty rings observed encircling a number of nearby main-sequence stars. I will review the currently known properties of these primitive objects, and discuss how ALMA can contribute to our understanding of the early solar system.