High-vacuum pumping technology has undergone a very significant transformation during the last 45 years: from oil vapor-jet pumps (so-called diffusion pumps) and oil-sealed mechanical pumps to a variety of oil-free technologies. The major trend has been the demand for improved cleanliness. Ultrahigh vacuum techniques, ion-getter pumping, cryogenic pumps, turbomolecular pumps, and oil-free roughing pumps are part of the trend. Turbomolecular pumps, or turbopumps, of various designs have become one of the major means of obtaining high vacuum. Their relative simplicity of operation, an advantage of a single rotor, a possibility of use in a remarkably wide range of pressure, and the convenience of multi-staging in a compact body to achieve high compression ratios, combine to provide a design flexibility unrivaled by other types of pumps. The design variations are still in process. Articles describing new designs are appearing in technical journals and patent literature. These include compound pumps, hybrid pumps, pumps with multiple inlets and exhausts, miniature pumps, and finally, pumps that are capable of exhausting directly into atmosphere. The latest addition to the variety of pumping disks, attached to the same shaft, are regenerative-centrifugal impellers. The proper selection and design of such pumping disks has a significant impact on performance and power consumption. We should expect that in the next 10 or 20 years the potential product possibilities should be sorted out.