Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 April 2016
We trace the history of observational solar prominence research from the early period when total solar eclipses provided the only means of observation, via the introduction of photography and spectroscopy in the 1860’s, to the present epoch when application of the Zeeman and the Hanle effects makes possible determination of the all-important magnetic fields in prominences.
Dividing prominence models into two classes, those that treat the support of the prominence against gravity and those concerned with the physical conditions in the prominence plasma itself, we describe the progress made in both classes of models since the 1950’s, when the first models were proposed. Finally, we comment on the necessity of combining aspects of the two classes of prominence models into a comprehensive picture that can account for the global nature of prominence support and stability, and where the adjacent coronal structures play an important role.