Chasing White-Light Flares Hugh S. Hudson

In this memoir I describe my life in research, mostly in the area of solar physics. The recurring theme is white-light flares, and several sections of this paper deal with this and related phenomena; I wind up describing how I see the state of the art in this still-interesting and crucially important (as it has been since 1859) area of flare research. I also describe my participation in two long-lived satellite programs dedicated to solar observations (Yohkoh and RHESSI) and elaborate on their discoveries. These have both helped with white-light flares both directly and also with closely related X-ray and gamma-ray emissions), with the result that this article leans heavily in that direction.