Editing Ball lightning (section)

=== Gervase of Canterbury ===
The chronicle of [[Gervase of Canterbury]], an English monk, contains what is possibly the earliest known reference to ball lightning, dated 7 June 1195. He states, "A marvellous sign descended near London", consisting of a dense and dark cloud, emitting a white substance that grew into a spherical shape under the cloud, from which a fiery globe fell towards the river.<ref name="gervase">{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/feeds/60146274|title = Is this England's earliest report of ball lightning? |newspaper= BBC Weather|date = 27 January 2022 }}</ref>

Physicist Emeritus Professor Brian Tanner and historian Giles Gasper of [[Durham University]] identified the chronicle entry as probably describing ball lightning, and noted its similarity to other accounts:
{{blockquote|Gervase's description of a white substance coming out of the dark cloud, falling as a spinning fiery sphere and then having some horizontal motion is very similar to historic and contemporary descriptions of ball lightning{{nbsp}}... It is fascinating to see how closely Gervase's 12th century description matches modern reports of ball lightning.<ref name="gervase"/>}}