The concept of symmetry in spectroscopic phenomena is briefly reviewed. Aspects of symmetry are considered in two specific areas of spectroscopy.
1. In ring laser spectroscopy with particular reference to the University of Canterbury ring laser which has already attained a frequency resolution of 1 part in 1015 with a potential resolution of 1 part in 1019.
2. The problems raised by recent experimental studies of the spectroscopic properties of neutral atoms trapped in noble gas matrices at very low temperatures with particular reference to transition and rare earth elements.
In both cases the prospects for new physics are considered.