  I review the main features of the nuclear response extracted from electron
scattering data. The emerging picture clearly shows that the shell model does
not provide a fully quantitative description of nuclear dynamics. On the other
hand, many body approaches in which correlation effetcs are explicitely taken
into account lead to a satisfactory account of electron scattering observables.
The possibility of exploiting the knowledge acquired from electron scattering
to reduce the systematic uncertainty of neutrino oscillation experiments is
outlined.
