Early Work with Synchrotron Radiation at Stanford

The use of synchrotron radiation in the soft and hard X-ray spectral region received major impetus with the start of parasitic operation of the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Project (SSRP) in 1974. This was the first time that synchrotron radiation from a multi-GeV electron storage ring was made available in a user facility for studying the structure of matter. Here we review the early work at SSRP as well as the activities that preceded it, highlighting the scientific accomplishments (soft X-ray photoemission, EXAFS, protein crystallography), beamline instrumentation developments and source improvements. The early work using bending-magnet radiation led to the funding of several dedicated facilities in the US and elsewhere in the world - the so-called second-generation light sources. Early work with wiggler and undulator insertion devices led to funding of third-generation sources better optimized for insertion device sources, particularly undulators.