The document discusses the relational model of data, which was proposed by Edgar F. Codd in the 1970s. It presents the key concepts of the relational model including relation schemes, relation instances, keys, foreign keys, and referential integrity constraints. It also introduces relational algebra operations such as select, project, join, and set operations that allow querying of relational databases and provides examples to illustrate how they work. Finally, it discusses how relational algebra provides the foundation for query optimization and execution in relational database management systems.