TITLE:  New optical instruments at La Silla from 1980, their impact on  science and the links to the 
VLT program

ABSTRACT:

Starting in 1980 the first instruments designed and built by ESO while in Geneve and later in 
Garching were installed at the 3.6m and at the 1.52m La Silla telescopes. In the following two 
decades many others did follow, including those to equip the new telescopes, the 2.2m (1983) and 
the NTT (1989). An overview of the more extensively used optical instruments in that epoch with 
their impact on the different areas of research is presented.  The many links of the La Silla 
instruments with the subsequent VLT Instrumentation program are outlined.