Birth of colliding beams in Europe, two photon studies at Adone

Abstract: This article recalls the birth of the first electron-positron storage ring AdA, and the construction of the higher energy collider ADONE, where early photon-photon collisions were observed. The events which led the Austrian physicist Bruno Touschek to propose and construct AdA will be recalled, starting with early work on the Wideroe's betatron during World War II, up to the construction of ADONE, and the theoretical contribution to radiative corrections to electron-positron collisions.