Mössbauer spectroscopy was founded more than fifty years ago based on an outstanding discovery by the young German physicist Rudolf Ludwig Mössbauer while working on his Ph.D. thesis. He discovered the recoilless nuclear resonance fluorescence of gamma radiation and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1961 as one of the youngest recipients of this most prestigious award. His discovery 15 led to the development of a new technique for measurements of hyperfine interactions between nuclear moments and electromagnetic fields. This method, with highest sharpness of tuning of 10 -13 , yields information on valence state, symmetry, magnetic behavior, phase transition, lattice dynamics and other solid state properties.