Ruled and holographic gratings: a historical perspective

This paper attempts to review the major events in the development of diffraction gratings, the spectrometers that utilize them and some of their more esoteric applications. It is seen that from early beginnings both the design of gratings themselves as well as the instruments in which they are used have become simpler, smaller and less expensive without giving up utility. Ruled and Holographic gratings now co-exist as standard optical elements.