  Helioseismology has been widely acclaimed as having been a great success: it
appears to have answered nearly all the questions that we originally asked,
some with unexpectedly high precision. We have learned how the sound speed and
matter density vary throughout almost all of the solar interior -- which not so
very long ago was generally considered to be impossible -- we have learned how
the Sun rotates, and we have a beautiful picture, on a coffee cup, of the
thermal stratification of a sunspot, and also an indication of the material
flow around it. We have tried, with some success at times, to apply our
findings to issues of broader relevance: the test of the General Theory of
Relativity via planetary orbit precession (now almost forgotten because the
issue has convincingly been closed, albeit no doubt temporarily), the solar
neutrino problem, the manner of the transport of energy from the centre to the
surface of the Sun, the mechanisms of angular-momentum redistribution, and the
workings of the solar dynamo. The first two were of general interest to the
broad scientific community beyond astronomy, and were, quite rightly,
principally responsible for our acclaimed success; the others are still in a
state of flux.
