The year 2008 marked the one hundredth anniversary of the observational discovery by George Ellery Hale of magnetic field in sunspots (Hale in Astrophys. J. 28:315–343,1908). This observation, the first to suggest a direct link between the best-known variable features on the Sun and magnetism, started a line of research that has widened considerably over the last 100 years and is continuing today. Knowledge about all aspects of the Sun has increased in a remarkable way over the past few decades. Variations in the appearance of the Sun and its corona, as well as deeper sources of quasi-regular and chaotic changes that make up solar variability have been extensively documented by both ground-based and space-based solar observatories. It has been recognized that solar magnetism is the key phenomenon that drives solar variability. The workshop devoted to the origin and dynamics of solar magnetism held in the International Space Science Institute in Bern, Switzerland, from 21 to 25 January 2008 reviewed the status of the field and has led to this volume that brings together the best available knowledge and understanding of solar magnetism 100 years after Hale’s pioneering paper. This introductory paper gives an outline of the history of research into solar variability up to the work of Hale and his colleagues. The achievements of the past decades are discussed extensively in the other contributions to this volume.