Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) 1977–1987

The eleventh Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS 11) Conference took place in September 2008, the Thirtieth Anniversary of the first Conference. That occurred in 1978 after discoveries with nuclear physics accelerators in 1977. Since the first Conference there have now been ten further conferences on the development and applications of what has become known as AMS. This is the accepted acronym for the use of accelerators, together with nuclear and atomic physics techniques, to enhance the performance of mass spectrometers for the detection and measurement of rare long-lived radioactive elements such as radiocarbon. This paper gives an outline of the events that led to the first conference together with a brief account of the first four conferences before the introduction of the second generation of accelerator mass spectrometers at AMS 5.