Glow discharges (GD) have been used as sources for atomic spectrometry for many years. First studies with hollow cathode (HC) discharges go back to Paschen. However, it was the 1960's before they were studied in more detail as spectrometric radiation sources. A strong impulse came from the work of Grimm, who developed a flat cathode dc (direct current) discharge, which proved tobe very useful both for bulk and for depth-profile analysis of conducting samples, as also described by Laqua. Reviews on the early work with glow discharges, which at the beginning were mainly used as radiation sources for atomic emission spectrometry, were written by Mavrodineanu and Broekaert, whereas Caroli reviewed the work with hollow cathodes. Glow discharges were also developed as powerful ion sources for mass spectrometry.[...]