Desalination nowadays is a mature techno-economic application This technological achievement started early immediately after World War II by scientists and engineers the desalination pioneers who established the desalination applications of today The authors attempt to present here the most important historic features from the early times up to the present day This paper is dedicated to all those who through their many years of hard work achieved by means of R&D on one hand the development of desalination technologies and on the other hand promoted by bringing people in contact to exchange ideas the development and application of desalination and related fields It is a historical description based on experienced memories and historical references (C) 2010 Elsevier BV All rights reserved