Brief History of the EML Symposia: 1980–2018

Following the pioneering research studies by individual inventors and teams from the 1840s to the 1960s on various aspects of electromagnetic launch using railguns, coilguns, and linear motors, there has been an explosion of interest since the 1970s. Much of this growth has been discussed at the International Electro-Magnetic Launcher Symposia that have taken place approximately every two years from 1980 to 2018. A brief description and a summary of the early work of pioneers in this field as well as the symposia is provided here. Selected papers from the symposia have been archived in the IEEE Transactions on Magnetics and the IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science.