Table 1.

Components of the selected chronology of air pollution presented in this paper.

date	air pollution event
400 BCE	The relationship between air and health developed as an important part of the book Airs, waters and places attributed to Hippocrates
first century AD	Writers from imperial Rome, e.g. Seneca and Frontinus, refer to the probable health impacts of smoke
947–1279	Smoke and gaseous pollutants from coal burning identified as a problem in Central Asia by Al-Mas'ūdī (947) and in China during the Song Dynasty (960–1279)
1273	The Smoke Abatement Act, the earliest legislation in England, prohibits use of coal as it is ‘prejudicial to health’
1610	The Law of Nuisance (UK): William Aldred's pig farm case
1661	John Evelyn published Fumifugium or The Inconvenience of the Aer and Smoak of London
seventeenth century	Harmful effects of air ascribed to various components, e.g. Kenelme Digby (acids), Nehemiah Grew (lead), John Evelyn (sulfur) and John Hall (antimony or mercury)
eighteenth century	Guillaume François Rouelle detects SO2 by absorbing the gas in strong alkalis; Carl Wilhelm Scheele detects NH3 via absorption with acids
1872	Robert Angus Smith publishes Air and Rain: The Beginnings of a Chemical Climatology, having undertaken the first multisite, multipollutant measurements
1878	The UK Royal Commission on Noxious Vapours
1894	The ‘great horse manure crises’ of London and New York
1905	Smoke Nuisance Acts in Bengal 1905
1952	The Great London Smog; 12 000 die in two weeks [1] Los Angeles smog, chemistry and effects described [2]
1956	The UK Clean Air Act
1960	Extensive local ecological damage by smelters (e.g. [3])
From 1967, air pollution problems are recognized as international issues
1960s	Acid rain extensively described by Svante Oden
1972	United Nations Stockholm Conference confirms acid rain as an important international issue in Europe
1970s	Ground-level ozone threat to ecosystems identified in North America and Europe following earlier concerns of effects of the ozone on human health
1977	USA establishes its National Acid Deposition Program (NADP)
1979	UNECE Convention on Long Range Transport of Air Pollution (LRTAP) established
1980s	Forest decline recognized in Europe and North America
1985	Helsinki Protocol: Commitment to reduced SO2 emissions by 30% (The 30% club)
1980s–1990s	Eutrophication of ecosystems by nitrogen deposition recognized
1991	Canada-USA Air Quality Agreement
1993	The ‘Six Cities’ study in North America re-focuses attention on the human health effects of air pollution PM10
1995	Launch of the first satellite for passive remote sensing atmospheric composition (GOME) for global ozone monitoring [4]
1999	The UNECE Gothenburg Protocol adopted to tackle multipollutant multieffects (acidity, ozone and eutrophication)
2000s	Emissions of SO2 and NOx in Asia increasingly dominate global emissions and adverse effects
2010	Widespread evidence of recovery from effects of acid deposition in Europe and North America with the decline in emissions of SO2 and NOx
2012	Beijing smog, 13th January, with concentrations of PM and SO2 similar to London 1952
2015	Global SO2 emissions reduced by 15% from the 1990 peak, while all other air pollutants still increasing
2018	Emissions of SO2 and NO2 declining rapidly in China
2018	Peak global NOx emission? Global emissions of NH3 and VOC continue to rise
2020	COVID-19: The global pandemic dramatically reduces emissions of industrial- and transport-related emissions of SO2, NOx, VOC and primary PM