  We trace the historical fate of experiment and theory of microwave-stimulated
superconductivity as originally reported for constriction-type superconducting
weak links. It is shown that the observed effect disappeared by improving weak
links to obtain the desired Josephson-properties. Separate experiments were
carried out to evaluate the validity of the proposed theory of Eliash'berg for
$\textit{energy-gap-enhancement}$ in superconducting films in a microwave
field, without reaching a full quantitatively reliable measurement of the
stimulated energy gap in a microwave-field, but convincing enough to understand
the earlier deviations from the Josephson-effect. Over the same time-period
microwave-stimulated superconductivity continued to be present in
superconductor-normal metal-superconductor Josephson weak links. This
experimental body of work was left unexplained for several decades and could
only be understood properly after the microscopic theory of the
proximity-effect had matured enough, including its non-equilibrium aspects. It
implies that the increase in critical current in weak-link Josephson-junctions
is due to an $\textit{enhancement of the phase-coherence}$ rather than to an
$\textit{enhancement of the energy-gap}$ as proposed by Eliash'berg. The
complex interplay between proximity-effect and the occupation of states
continuous to be, in a variety of ways, at the core of the ongoing research on
hybrid Josephson-junctions. The subject of radiation-enhanced superconductivity
has re-emerged in the study of the power-dependence of superconducting
microwave resonators, but also in the light-induced emergence of
superconductivity in complex materials.
