The decades of development of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) have resulted in a family of remarkable signal processing techniques that are capable of producing imagery whose cross-range resolution is independent of range and much finer than is possible to achieve with any practically-deployable real-beam antenna. SAR was initially conceived in the 1950s by Carl Wiley in the context of stripmap collection. He was, by all accounts, a talented and colorful person whose contributions include the first serious consideration of the feasibility of the solar sail. This early work ignited a legacy of research, development, and practical application that remains strong to this day.