The article presents the author's comment on the "2004 IEEE Nuclear and Space Radiation Effects Conference." The December 2004 special issue of the IEEE Transactions on Nuclear science contains selected papers from the 41th Annual Nuclear and Space Radiation Effects Conference, held in Monterey, California from July 19-23, 2004. Over 100 papers from the conference were submitted to the Guest Editor for consideration for year's special issue. This publication is the premier archival journal of research on space and nuclear radiation environments and effects on materials, devices, circuits and systems.