TOPICAL REVIEW The solar UV-x-ray spectrum from 1.5 to 2000 Å

This review illustrates the potential of UV-x-ray spectroscopy for determining the physical conditions in the solar chromosphere, transition region and corona, and how spectroscopy can be used as a tool to understand the physical mechanisms governing the atmosphere. It also illustrates the potential for understanding transient events such as solar flares. This is a vast topic, and therefore the review is necessarily not complete, but we have tried to be as general as possible in showing in particular how solar spectra are currently being used to understand the solar upper atmosphere. The review is intended for non-solar physicists with an interest in spectroscopy as well as for solar physicists who are not specialists in spectroscopy.