  John N. Bahcall championed solar neutrino physics for many years. Thanks to
his pioneering and long-lasting contributions, this field of research has not
only reached maturity, but has also opened a new window on physics beyond the
standard electroweak model through the phenomenon of neutrino flavor
oscillations. We briefly outline some recent accomplishments in the field, and
also discuss a couple of issues that do not seem to fit in the ``standard
picture,'' namely, the chemical controversy at the solar surface, and possible
implications of recent gallium radioactive source experiments.
