Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 July 2016
It is now 22 years since quasars were discovered. When the ageing veterans of those pioneering investigations think back over two decades of boisterous debate, their reactions are probably rather mixed. Wonderment at the range and variety of novel phenomena revealed in all wavebands must be tinged with disappointment that we seem so slow in grasping what is really going on. Our understanding has advanced slowly, through many small steps — forward steps preponderating (fortunately) over backward ones.