The future of synchrotron radiation

The purpose of this talk is to demonstrate the progress made over the last 15 years in the field of synchrotron radiation. The first part of this paper shall describe the properties and recent developments of the third generation sources. Success is strongly linked to a remarkable development in the field of X-ray optics. In the second part, I have chosen to show results in areas that will not receive much coverage at this conference: paleontology, time-resolved experiments, three-dimensional imaging or circular magnetic dichroism with transmission electron microscopes. Finally, I will briefly review the future possibilities with storages rings, energy recovery linacs (ERL), free electron lasers (FEL) and high power lasers. It should be clear that this list is not exhaustive and gives only a partial insight to the possibilities afforded by synchrotron radiation