The rich history of the r-process, which began with gechemists and involves more than a dozen Nobel laureates, is reviewed in this talk. The r-process is the mechanism by which half of all nuclei heavier than iron, and involves intense fluxes and rapid captures of neutrons. However, its astrophysical site has long been debated. The recent LIGO/VIRGO detection of gravitational radiation from GW170817 bears the clear signature of a binary neutron star merger and validated a number of theoretical predictions.