The purpose of this paper is to set the scene for what promises to be an outstanding conference. To this end the paper will survey the early work in silicon photonics from the late 1980s to the mid 1990s. This was when the more fundamental studies of basic building blocks were carried out, such as study of the silicon optical waveguide itself, the contributions to loss and improvement of waveguiding devices. Issues such as how to achieve modulation, and how to implement a modulator, the criteria for single mode propagation will also be covered, as well as work on the beginnings of optical circuits in silicon and SOI. The focus will be upon pure silicon, usually, but not exclusively in the form of Silicon on Insulator (SOI), as opposed to work on compounds such as SiGe or SiC. Much of this work still resonates with work being carried out today, because the move to smaller and more efficient devices means that some of these issues must be revisited in order to achieve optimal device performance. Hence the paper will provide a summary of the early work on silicon photonics, and attempt to relate it to some of the issues being studied today.

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