This will be a selected summary of important accomplishments and "firsts" at NBS/NIST through the years in many areas of surface science: instrument development, original experiments, standards development, and theory. Seminal developments and achievements with lasting impacts will be emphasized (including, but not limited to, experiment and theory of field emission tunnel resonances, the topografiner as a predecessor of STM, high-performance electron-energy analyzers, spin-polarized electron detection and SEMPA, novel miniature gas sensors, improved devices based on the giant magnetoresistance effect, ESDIAD, catalysis over single crystals, laser-induced desorption, surface vibrational lifetimes, molecular modeling of time-dependent phenomena at surfaces, inelastic neutron scattering from adsorbates, calculation of electron inelastic mean free paths, development of databases and reference materials).