preprint Mercury - the Rosetta Stone of Physics? Thomas Walther and Edward S. Fry Department of Physics, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4242, U.S.A. Abstract. A surprisingly long list of historical experiments have used mercury atoms. Thus, these atoms have contributed a tremendous number of the pieces to the jigsaw puzzle of physics as we know it today. This legacy continues up to the present. We illustrate the latest phases of this legacy via two ongoing experiments based on mercury: an implementation of Bohm’s version of an Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen experiment and UV-lasing without inversion. Submitted to: J. Opt. B: Quantum Semiclass. Opt. e-mail: thw@tamu.edu