The Lizard District of southern Cornwall is composed of a slab of ancient ocean crust containing rock types otherwise unknown in England. As such, the region has been of great interest to geologists for over two-hundred years. A review of scientific advances through the 19th century highlights the transition from generally field-based to detailed petrographic analyses.

Point discharge is an electrical process which occurs naturally in Earth’s atmosphere. Like lightning, it has been observed both directly and indirectly for centuries. Several of the milestone investigations in atmospheric electricity have arisen through measuring point discharge. This work gives a history of various investigations involving the phenomenon and explains its central role in developments in atmospheric electricity.

Before the Enlightenment, clouds were described phenomenologically. The vacuum pump’s invention enabled the formation of mist droplets by experiment, prompting questions about why clouds float. Around 1800, early proposals for cloud classification emerged. However, it wasn’t until manned balloon ascents provided detailed atmospheric data that the physical basis of cloud formation became clear, even though accurately depicting clouds in atlases remained challenging for some decades.

This paper reports a few anecdotes from the life of Paul Crutzen, which were contributed by friends and colleagues. Taken together these anecdotes should shed some light on the person Paul Crutzen, which is perhaps less visible, when focusing only on his scientific achievements.

This study reveals that a vast ancient lake once covered parts of central Iran, influencing regional culture and settlement. By analyzing old texts, maps, and environmental data, the research reconstructs the lake’s size, timeline, and role in history. The findings suggest the lake lasted thousands of years before drying up due to climate shifts, offering new insights into how landscapes shaped early civilizations.

Over the past decade, a vast ancient Lake has been discovered in the central region of Iran, known as the Paleo Mega Lake of Rey. This paper aims to meticulously examine the provided data while accurately pinpointing to this lake. Additionally, significant data related to periods when the lake was filled with water has been acquired. Consequently, there is no longer any room for uncertainty regarding the presence of the lake during the era when humans resided in the territory of Iran.

The meteorite "Veramin" fell in Persia ca. 1880. In the records, there are ambiguities about the event and we therefore scrutinized the available sources. The current official name, coined by meteoricist A. Brezina, is not supported by Iranian documents. A key document is a rediscovered label with the main mass of the meteorite. The indicated place of the event, probably occurring in February–April 1880, is Booghin of in the historical Zarand district, 100 km NW from Veramin (Varamin).

Long-term series of historical observations in Latvia of mesospheric clouds are digitized. Observational data are freely available to researchers. Observation sites, methodology and technical support are described. A brief overview of mesospheric cloud observation statistics 1957–1983.

ESA and NASA have distinct technology transfer approaches, including differences in organizational structure, funding mechanisms, intellectual property strategies, international collaborations, business incubation centers, and commercialization focus. However, both agencies share the common goals of maximizing the societal and economic impact of space technologies and fostering innovation through technology transfer.

The Argonauts’ trip along the northern limit of the Libyan Desert, from Syrtis Gulf to Tritonis Lake, is described by Apollonius Rhodes’ text ‘Argonautica’. The Argonauts sailed in this lake and located a narrow passage through which they exit to the Mediterranean’s coast.

Climate science underwent a rapid expansion in the last decades, associated with ever growing significance for climate policy. On the other hand, climate science is, as all sciences, also a social process. Confronted with these developments, several different series of oral interviews with climate scholars, of different seniority, were done and archived. The present article gives an overview of these interviews, and tries to briefly describe the social context of climate science.