Towards detailed knowledge of atomic nuclei—the past, present and future of nuclear structure investigations at GSI

Selected experimental nuclear structure physics results are presented which have been obtained at GSI since the mid 70ties employing the UNILAC and the SIS/FRS accelerator facility. It is shown how stable heavy-ion beams as well as radioactive isotope beams of this facility together with state-of-the-art instrumentation produced many discoveries and led to a multitude of important results covering many aspects of nuclear structure. Finally, we discuss the future directions of nuclear structure research at GSI with the FAIR/NUSTAR project. (invited comment)