Half-century history of clathrate chemistry

This paper is devoted to the history of a,Icl-l field of knowledge - clathrate chemistry, whose 50th anniversary is being celebrated. The Historical Dates section contains data on clathrates from the first observations of thee compounds (late 18th century) to the pioneering works (1947-1948) of the English crystallographer Herbert Marcus Powell explaining their nature. Major trends of research into clathrate chemisstry since Powell's works are discussed.