Some general remarks and future trends in amorphous metals might be in order. Such a b r i e f account requires, of course, certa in s imp l i f i ca t ions . I t seems necessary to look at the h is to r i ca l development in order to assess prospects for the future. For th is reason the h is tory of the amorphous metals is presented in an abstract and in schematic form in f igure I . A s im i la r representat ion was published some years ago I . As a scale for the endeavours in the f i e l d we have chosen the estimated number of papers published annually. The r e l a t i v e l y short h is tory f a l l s completely in the second ha l f of th is century. Furthermore, the phases in the development might be dist inguished by decades: In the f i f t i e s some strange observations were made which led to amorphous metals, that i s , e lect rodeposi t ion 2, vapor deposit ion 3 and i r r ad ia t i on . In th is personal account of the h is to r i ca l development the names which are underlined represent the milestones and most important events. Early in the s i x t i es two breakthroughs occurred: Bernal developed the model of random dense packing of hard spheres, DRPHS, often cal led the Bernal model 4. This model was o r i g i n a l l y derived as a geometrical model for the l i qu i d state. However, with increasing in te res t in amorphous mater ia ls i t has also served up to the present time as a basis for the understanding of amorphous metals. Also most s ign i f i can t at the beginning of the s i x t i es was the work of Pol Duwez who advanced the f i e l d in two ways 5. On the one hand he invented a number of fast quenching methods and on the other he produced a large var ie ty of amorphous meta l s . In fact he found the T80M20 al loys (T = t rans i t i on metals, M = meta l lo id atoms) which show in t he i r respective phase diagrams pronounced eutect ics coinc id ing with the regions of high re la t i ve s t a b i l i t y . In add i t ion , the al loys of th is type often exh ib i t ferromagnetism. Pol Duwez introduced systematics into the f i e l d and his work soon fascinated and inspired more and more sc ien t is ts . He can t r u l y be regarded as the father of the f i e l d . I t might be noted that at the end of the s i x t i es the in te res t in the l i qu id and amorphous state was well balanced. However the amorphous state then began to dominate due to the newly developed technical appl icat ions. As a consequence, at our LAM conferences which run on the l i qu i d and the amorphous tracks, we are