The article concentrates on the German role in the establishment of the European Incoherent Scatter Radar (EISCAT). It outlines the scientific motivation of the Max Planck Society for participating on behalf of two of its institutes. Special attention is given to the augmentation of the scientific scope of the radar by the installation of an ionospheric heater facility. The first years of EISCAT operation are summarized from the personal viewpoint of the author.

Early data by pendulum instruments in Norway contributed to the first global gravity system. Spring gravimeters were used for a national gravity database, geoid computation, and for geophysical prospecting. Absolute gravimeters revealed gravity changes caused by land uplift since the last ice age. The first gravity data at sea were obtained in the Arctic Ocean. Current terrestrial and satellite data allow geodynamical studies relevant to climate change, caused by melting glaciers and ice sheets.

In this article we present the history of the Jagiellonian University School of Tourism and highlights its role in the development of tourism research and education in Europe. The school played an important role in the development of tourism geography and education in Europe, especially in Poland. This paper fills a gap in our knowledge on the history of science and education, especially tourism research in central Europe at this time.

This paper analyses the development of international geoscientific unions, and discusses their past and present role in and their added value to the promotion of geoscience in the complicated arena of existing and emerging intergovernmental organisations and professional societies of geoscientists.

The expanding Earth theory holds that the original Earth was much smaller and that ocean basins were lacking then. While the theory has largely been debunked in recent years, new research from GPS and other space geodetic techniques indicates that the Earth may actually be expanding at present at about 0.1–0.4 mm/yr. In addition, new evidence showing that deep mantle plumes rise all the way from the core–mantle boundary sheds light on a possible expansion mechanism.