Abstract The theory of continental glaciation was worked out independently in different countries, but the idea that glaciers had formerly expanded over much larger areas than today was born in Switzerland (Venetz-Sitten, von Charpentier, Agassiz et al. ). From the region of ‘living glaciers’ in the Alps, scientists could make direct comparisons between areas now occupied by ice and those evidently abandoned by ice. Otto Torell in northern Europe and Piotr Kropotkin in Russia are most often named the ‘fathers’ of the glacial theory. But, in fact, Karl Eduard Eichwald (1795–1876) was the first in the Russian Baltic provinces to consider the possibility of the wide distribution of ice in lowland areas. The glacial theory was strongly supported by the academician Friedrich Schmidt (1832–1908), and features of several glaciations in northern and eastern Europe were first mentioned by Constantin Grewingk in 1879.

Abstract The development of ideas about the origin of erratic boulders in the northern Netherlands is reviewed for the period from 1770 to 1907. A Scandinavian origin of these rocks was recognized at an early stage, but the transport mechanism was not understood. Initially, the Biblical Flood was proposed as a geological agent by Horace de Saussure (1740–1799) in 1780. Charles Lyell (1797–1875) developed a theory of climate change and a ‘glacial drift theory’ to account for the movement of large boulders in the Alps, and he introduced the term ‘drift’ in 1840. Several prize contests of the two Dutch Scientific Societies, the Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen and the Teyler Genootschap, both at Haarlem, concerned erratics. The competitions of 1827 and 1828 were won by Johann Hausmann (1782–1849) from Göttingen University and Reinhard Bernhardi (1797–1849) from the Forstakademie Hitzacker, respectively. Hausmann assumed that a great freshwater flood, caused by the breakthrough of natural dams in the Scandinavian mountains, swept boulders to the plains of the northern Netherlands. Bernhardi vaguely suggested the possibility of transport by glaciers. The prize for the third contest (1861) was awarded in 1868 to the Swedish geologist Otto Torell (1828–1900). He invoked the land-ice theory, which, as regards The Netherlands, proposed that the boulders had been transported by glaciers descending from the Bothnian Gulf and extending into the northern Netherlands, amongst other areas. However, for reasons unknown, Torell's manuscript was never printed, and he never collected his gold medal and the prize money. At a historic meeting of the Deutsche Geologische Gesellschaft at Berlin in 1875, 7 years after winning the Haarlem contest, Torell managed to convince his audience of the land-ice theory after showing striated rock surfaces at a well-known outcrop at Rüdersdorf near Berlin. Thus, it took about a century from the first speculations in the late eighteenth century about the origin and transport of erratic rocks to about 1880 before the land-ice theory became generally accepted in continental NW Europe.

Abstract The discovery of Ice Ages is one of the most revolutionary advances ever made in the Earth sciences. In Norway this discovery was made by Danish–Norwegian geoscientist Jens Esmark and his young student Niels Otto Tank, who on a mountain traverse in early September 1823 observed a number of geomorphological features produced by an extant glacier, and compared these to similar features they had previously noted where glaciers today are absent. Seeing a recent moraine pushed up by an extant glacier they suddenly realized that a big ridge of gravel they had earlier seen at sea-level in Southern Norway had to be an ancient moraine, deposited by a big glacier at a time when the climate was substantially colder than today. The brevity of Esmark's account made the precise location of the site of enlightenment remain a mystery for almost two hundred years until it was rediscovered by the author in 2008. This paper describes the crucial site and its lessons.

Abstract Large boulders, up to several metres in diameter and mainly made up of metamorphic rocks, are scattered throughout the Torino Hill in NW Italy. These boulders were originally included in Oligocene–Miocene conglomerate beds and were released by alteration of the host rock at the surface. In the past two centuries, their origin and mechanisms of emplacement in the conglomerate bodies were largely debated by both Italian and foreign geologists. Some of the boulders had been given proper names by the local people and had become the object of legends and rituals. Moreover, in the past, the boulders had an economic value, being used as construction stones or exploited to produce aggregates, lime and millstones. This, together with the progressive urbanization of the area, caused the disappearance of many of the large boulders once present on the Torino Hill. The remaining ones are presently not appreciated and are almost forgotten, even though they represent an invaluable geoheritage and deserve rediscovery and protection.

Abstract The notable Russian scientist Piotr Alekseevich Kropotkin (1842–1921) is well known in Western countries for his writings on anarchist philosophy and various historical and political themes, but his geological and geographical work is less familiar, and his great treatise on Quaternary geology is virtually unknown in the Western world. The present paper provides a summary account of Kropotkin's Quaternary studies and his travels in the glaciated regions of Siberia and Scandinavia. He was an exponent of the ‘land-ice’ theory and traced the movements of glaciers in Scandinavia, paying particular attention to the form and structure of eskers.

Abstract A personal account, illustrated by the author's sketches, of ideas about glaciation, neotectonics and Quaternary geology, discussing the author's observations made during the course of his work undertaken in eastern Europe and Siberia, the Caucasus and Iceland. The paper is at the same time a contribution to autobiographical literature and to studies in the history of geoscience. The author's discovery of evidence for Pliocene glaciation in the Caucasus is noteworthy.