Spin is a beautiful concept that plays an ever important role in modern physics. In this talk, I start with a discussion of the origin of spin, and then turn to three themes in which spin has been crucial in subatomic physics: a lab to explore physics beyond the standard model, a tool to measure physical observables that are hard to obtain otherwise, a probe to unravel nonperturbative QCD. I conclude with some remarks on a world without spin. © 2003 American Institute of Physics