Abstract . Transverse electromagnetic waves are important carriers of information and energy. In 1996, Hellwarth and Nouchi theoretically identified a radically different, non-transverse type of electromagnetic pulse with a toroidal topology. These pulses, which are propagating counterparts of localized toroidal dipole excitations in matter, exhibit unique electromagnetic wave properties and, so far, have never been experimentally realized and observed. Here we report the generation of s...