The development and application of the Van de Graaff accelerator

The development of the Van de Graaff accelerator over the past three decades is briefly reviewed with particular reference to the work of Van de Graaff and his colleagues, and an attempt is made to illustrate briefly how the special characteristics of this type of accelerator have contributed to advances in our knowledge of low energy nuclear physics. A brief mention is made of the application of Van de Graaff accelerators to other fields of physics, and to engineering, chemistry, medicine and the biological sciences.