Historical perspective of the H{sup {minus}} Ion Source Symposia

The International Symposium on the Production and Neutralization of Negative Hydrogen Ions and Beams is entering its third decade of providing a forum for the H{sup -} ion source community. The first meeting was held at Brookhaven National Laboratory in 1977 and has returned there every three years to 1995. This is the eighth meeting in this series and for the first time is in Europe, hosted by CEA/Center de Cadarache. Since this Symposium is meeting in Europe many new people have had an opportunity to attend and many of these are of a younger generation. On the 20th anniversary of the First Symposium it seems fitting that a historical review should be given. The Symposium meetings and its archiving of information has been a valuable asset to this community. I hope to briefly describe the early H{sup -} source work and provide some insight into the success of the H{sup -} source effort.