摘要：In the middle of the eighteenth century, little was known about the nature of space weather. The aurora had been observed for centuries, but its nature and cause remained enigmatic. On the other hand, the discovery of magnetic disturbances (which at the time referred to erratic compass needle deflections) was relatively new, and no one knew what to make of this unusual phenome- non. However, a few pioneering scientists made significant strides in understanding the connections between the aurora and magnetic measurements, and their new scien- tific insights enabled the first space weather prediction to be made. Although a curiosity back then, today predictions of space weather phenomena are critically important as ever more engineered systems that can be affected by space weather processes are employed for commerce, science, exploration, and national security purposes. To truly understand and appreciate this first prediction, it is useful to look at the circumstances that allowed it to happen.
