Hydrogen is the medium of the past and helium is the hope of the future. I do not intend, in this paper to go into the relevant merits of helium over hydrogen and vice versa for its uses in the airship industry, for the obvious reason that most of you here today will be more knowledgeable on this particular aspect than I. What I will try and do in this paper is to give a brief background on the interesting aspects of helium and its unique characteristics.