Physics of Fluids celebrates its 50th anniversary with this issue. This brief history summarizes the launching of the journal in 1958 under its first editor François Frenkiel, who held the position for more than 20 years; reviews the next 16years under the guidance of Andreas Acrivos, a fertile period during which the journal grew and spun off its sibling, Physics of Plasmas; and then reaches the current era under the present two editors.