Fifty years ago Professor Rudolf L. Mössbauer published a paper in Z. Phys. which initialized a new research area that has impacted many segments of the sciences. Research in this area became known as the Mössbauer Effect, and more recently as Mössbauer spectroscopy, and has encompassed an international scientific community unto itself. Now, 50 years since the original publication, there are over 50,000 publications on the Mössbauer Effect. In recent years there have been between 1,000 and 1,200 publications per year.

The study of the Mössbauer Effect is in a stage of maturity with very few breakthroughs in instrumentation and our fundamental understandings of the Effect (with the exception of observing the Mössbauer Effect with synchrotron radiation). It is a basic tool which scientists are able to use to more fully understand a variety of systems in which the Mössbauer isotope is present. In recent times we are seeing many of the original Mössbauer scientists retiring, after spending their professional life in the development and use of the Mössbauer Effect.

The Mössbauer Effect Data Center has been providing information services to the international Mössbauer community for over 30 years. There are currently over 50,000 bibliographical references from which the Center has abstracted over 100,000 data entries.

The Mössbauer Effect Data Center has in its database approximately 44,000 authors coming from 118 countries with publications in 46 different languages. These Mössbauer papers have been published in over 3,300 different journals and 1,400 different books. While many, if not most, of the very early publications were focused on the understanding of the Mössbauer effect, today almost all publications are focused on using the Mössbauer effect (Mössbauer spectroscopy) to investigate various materials and systems.

The history of the Center has closely paralleled the development of computer information systems. The Center has experimented over the years with a variety of information systems to provide for the needs of the Mössbauer community. It is interesting that the information resource that is still the most widely used is the Mössbauer Effect Reference and Data Journal. This journal, while having experienced decreases in its number of subscriptions (which parallels that of other scientific journals internationally), is still by far the most widely used of the various information services of the Center. The Center also provides a series of other services, including printed handbooks and hosting both this Web page, with access to the Center's main database, and the Mössbauer "community" Web page located at < www.moss.dicp.ac.cn>.

The Center is directly financially supported by the international scientific community through institutional and individual sponsorship, subscriptions, and sales of handbooks and other informational products.