In one minute

Alexander Keul addresses ball lightning, an open problem in atmospheric physics with thousands of eyewitness reports but few instrumental records and no agreed theory. Because the phenomenon is so hard to monitor, he turns to reports from scientists and trained professionals. He compiles 20 published cases, 15 from his own work and 6 from a Russian database: 41 cases from eight countries between 1868 and 2020, each summarised and then synthesised. Six influential or notable cases are added. Well-documented cases from trained observers can drive fieldwork and test theories, and scientists with unreported sightings are invited to share them.

A brief history of ball lightning observations by scientists and trained professionals