  A largely qualitative, and rather idiosyncratic discussion of electron
fractionalization in condensed matter physics is presented, including some
historical reflections and some speculations concerning future application of
these ideas. Particular attention is paid to systems which exhibit spin-charge
separation, i.e. the electron can decay into separate excitations which carry
the electron spin and the electron charge; the soliton model of polyacetylene
is treated as a paradigmatic example. This paper is based on a talk given at a
symposium honoring A.J.Heeger, A.G.MacDiarmid, and H.Shirakawa, the winners of
the year 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
