A short history of e+e- storage rings

A quick survey of the history of electron-positron colliding-beam physics is given. First, the main physical characteristics of storage rings are recalled and the kinematical and dynamical properties of e+e- annihilation reactions are described. Then an account is made of the most important results obtained in particle physics with e+e- colliding rings. With the first generation of machines at low energies, the precise study of the vector mesons and the form factors of pions and kaons was made. Then at intermediate energies came the astonishing result that the total cross-section was keeping much higher than previously expected. Last but not least, a new realm of physics was opened by the discovery of the new particles, of their decays to intermediate states, by the possible existence of heavy leptons and of charmed mesons