A short history of chemical shifts in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA) and Mossbauer spectroscopy, which are useful for chemical studies, is described. The term chemical shift is shown to have originated in the mistaken assumption that nuclei of a given element would all undergo resonance at the same frequency regardless of their environment and using the prefix chemical for the shifts observed in the three forms of spectroscopy is appropriate.