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With countless reports, few physical records, and no theory consensus, ball lightning remains an unsolved problem in atmospheric physics; 41 qualified observation abstracts (1868–2020) from eight countries are presented by a case investigator. Some were related to mountain, power line, aeroplane; two had medical effects. Six influential cases are added. High-quality report data stimulate further fieldwork and theories of the phenomenon. Scientific readers are invited to share unreported events.

This paper examines how ionospheric physics emerged as a research speciality in Britain, Germany, and the United States in the first 4 decades of the 20th century. It argues that the formation of this discipline can be viewed as the confluence of four deep-rooted traditions in which scientists and engineers transformed, from within, research areas connected to radio wave propagation and geomagnetism.

We present a tribute to Georg Friedrich Karl Hartung (1821–1891), a German geologist, on his 200th birthday. He was influenced by eminent 19th century scientific personalities and pioneered geological observations and sampling in the Azores, Madeira, and Canary Islands volcanic archipelagos. Later in his life, he travelled to the USA and explored Scandinavia. His work in Macaronesia is deemed classic, and many have been enriched by his detailed geological illustrations.

From the perspective of the social history of science and transnational history, this paper reviews the development of the Institute of Geophysics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGCAS). The scientific development of IGCAS and typical examples in several branches of geophysics, which include atmospheric science, seismology, and space physics, are summarized. The experience and lessons in the development of this institute and its effect on geophysics in China are explored.

This paper is a paraphrased summary of the book published in Finnish on the 100th anniversary of the Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory in 2013 (edited by Heikki Nevanlinna, 2017). The history of the Geophysical Observatory in Sodankylä (SGO) is described by the personalities who have run it and have shaped the observatory. Thereafter, we describe the history from a technical point of view, i.e., what the measurements were and which instruments were primarily used at the observatory.

The historical development of the Geophysical Service of Austria, comprising the national geomagnetic, gravimetric and seismological services as well as the Applied Geophysics Section located at the Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik (ZAMG) in Vienna in Austria, is presented. Achievements, changes and challenges of the department from its modest beginning in 1851 until 2020 are described, including the Conrad Observatory.

A historical review of the establishment of the Haldde Observatory in Bossekop, Kaafjord, Finnmark, in northern Norway is presented together with some of the scientific outcomes of the efforts and the aftermath of this enterprise that led to the establishment of the University of Tromsø in 1968 and finally the inauguration of the Haldde Observatory as a historic site by the European Physical Society in 2018.

In this text we examine the historical and cultural context of the Great Comet of 1577 from the perspective of Chaim Vital, who recorded his observation of the comet on the evening of 10 November 1577. This observation includes a description of a possible aurora, by noting the presence of a chasm in the sky. This kind of description is common in Western medieval accounts. In his Book of Visions, Vital only noted the event without interpretation, likely due to comets being considered ill omens.

At the beginning of the 19th century, meteor observations were not well established. One of its pioneers, who observed meteors on a regular basis, was Eduard Heis in Münster, Germany. We summarise the life of this scientist. Besides his main task of teaching mathematics in Aachen and Münster, he observed atmospheric phenomena and variable stars with exceptional perseverance. We focus on his contributions to meteor astronomy, with which he predated the work of Schiaparelli by 30 years.

The Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic has been running the National Cultural Identity programme. There is a rich history of surveying in Bohemia and the tradition of production of surveying instruments. That is why we won a project focused on devices used in Bohemia from the 16th to the end of the 20th century. To date, more than 200 instruments from 32 European manufacturers have been documented. Information about the instruments will be available at www.surveyinginstruments.org.

This paper studies the early history of geomagnetism (i.e., history before World War II). At that time, the problem of whether the start time of a magnetic storm was simultaneous or not all over the world was discussed. International and domestic research activities of Aikitu Tanakadate, a Japanese geoscientist, were studied by investigating his personal letters concerning with this problem. We will present a hypothesis on the first discoverer of this problem.

The study brings the first comprehensively processed historical–geographical work dealing with one of the oldest places of commercial copper production using cementation in Europe – Smolník (Upper Hungary; present day Slovakia). Its relevance lies not only in professional circles but also for the needs of the general public (e.g. mining tourism). The study contributes to the preservation of a forgotten and unknown mining heritage in one of the most important mining towns in former Upper Hungary.

Research on rock strain done during part of the 19th century has a level of scientific quality that is not usually acknowledged. The objective of this paper is to put these older papers in perspective, highlighting the careful field observations of these early researchers, the focus they made on the study of deformed objects, and how they gave birth to the fundamental equations and basic concepts that we use today to calculate rock strain.