Originally invented for generating the first artificial nuclear reactions, particle accelerators have undergone, during the past 80 years, a fascinating development that is an impressive example of the inventiveness and perseverance of scientists and engineers. Since the early 1980s, accelerator science and technology has been booming. Today, accelerators are the prime tool for high energy physics to probe the structure of matter to an unknown depth. They are also, as synchrotron radiation sources, the most versatile tool for characterizing materials and processes and for producing micro- and...