Abstract: As the author has the privilege of being associated with Born in Edinburgh during 1938--1941 and 1943--1945, and with Schroedinger in Dublin during 1941--1943 and 1945--1947, the beginning of quantum mechanics 80 years ago is described here with reminiscences, and also with an emphasis on the evolution of scientific ideas.

Key words: wave mechanics, Schroedinger, matrix mechanics, Born, Jordan, Heisenberg, q-numbers, Dirac, quantum mechanics