Abstract. One important problem arising in algebraic geometry is the computation of effective bounds for the degree of embeddings in a projective space of given algebraic varieties. This problem is intimately related to the following question: Given a positive (or ample) line bundle L on a projective manifold X, can one compute explicitly an integer m 0 such that mL is very ample for m m 0 ? It turns out that the answer is much easier to obtain in the case of adjoint line bundles 2(K X + mL), for which universal values of m 0 exist. We indicate here how such bounds can be derived by a combination of powerful analytic methods: theory of positive currents and plurisubharmonic functions (Lelong), L 2 estimates for ∂ (Andreotti-Vesentini, Hörmander, Bombieri, Skoda), Nadel vanishing theorem, Aubin-Calabi-Yau theorem, and holomorphic Morse inequalities.