  This essay presents a critical evaluation of the concepts of string theory
and its impact on particle physics. The point of departure is a historical
review of four decades of ST within the broader context of six decades of
failed attempts at an autonomous S-matrix approach to particle theory. The
central message, contained in sections 5 and 6, is that string theory is not
what its name suggests, namely a theory of of objects in spacetime whose
localization is string- instead of point-like. The result is corroborated by
the failure of the conformal embedding view: whereas the "target space" of the
chiral theory (higher dimensional vector or spinor indices of currents) becomes
string theories spacetime, the one-dimensional source space does not describe a
string embedded in the target spacetime but rather enriches the "inner" space
over each point (spin, masses). Hence string theory solves a problem which
enjoyed some popularity in the 60s namely the construction of infinite
component fields.
