This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: A 178-year-old mystery surrounding one of the earliest recorded examples of space weather affecting technology has been solved by an international team led by Lancaster University. The first practical electric telegraph networks were deployed during the 1840s, and as solar activity increased during the following years, Victorian telegraph operators began to experience unexplained electrical effects caused by geomagnetic disturbances.
Jim Wild, a professor at Lancaster University, along with scientists from the British Geological Survey, Natural Resources Canada, Baylor University, RMIT University and STFC RAL Space, re-examined a widely cited account of a train delay in Exeter that was reportedly caused by a geomagnetic disturbance from the sun interfering with railway telegraph systems. The event has previously been cited as potentially the earliest recorded example of space weather affecting human technology, but the team's research, published in the American Geophysical Union journal Space Weather, contradicts this assumption. The original account described how the 10:05 p.m. train departing Exeter in Devon was delayed by 16 minutes when a "very intense magnetic disturbance" interfered with electric signaling telegraph equipment used to determine whether the railway line ahead was clear.
However, the researchers found a critical problem—the railway line referenced in the account did not open until 1846, almost five years after the alleged 1841 incident. Their investigation shows that the incident most likely took place on Oct. 18, 1848, rather than Oct. 18, 1841, as stated in an influential article published in Nature in 1871. To uncover what really happened, the team combined evidence from railway timetables, historical newspapers, solar observations, auroral reports and digitized geomagnetic records.
Their investigation identified a strong geomagnetic disturbance on Oct. 18, 1848, alongside reports of sunspots and auroras seen across the U.K. and Europe, providing compelling evidence that the date in the original account was a typographical error. The findings show that while the Exeter incident remains one of the earliest documented examples of space weather disrupting technology, it was not the first. The earliest credible report currently known is interference with telegraph systems on the Midland Railway in March 1847.
Wild, from Lancaster University's School of Physics and Astronomy and lead author of the study, said, "Space weather is often discussed as a modern challenge because of our dependence on technologies such as satellites, communications systems and electricity networks. What this study shows is that society has been experiencing the effects of space weather on technology for almost as long as electrical technologies have existed. "The Exeter train delay is a fascinating story because it sits right at the point where emerging technologies first began to encounter the realities of the space environment.
By combining historical archives with scientific observations, we've been able to show that the event almost certainly happened in 1848 rather than 1841. "Although this means it is not the earliest recorded space weather impact, it remains one of the first clear examples of solar activity disrupting critical infrastructure. It also demonstrates the value of combining scientific records with contemporary newspaper reports and archival documents when reconstructing historic space weather events." Dr.
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