Inaugural editorial for Discover Surfaces

We are delighted to present Discover Surfaces, a fully open access, broad scope journal within the Discover series, covering all aspects of research in surface Sciences.Agnes Pockels is widely recognized as one of the earliest contributors to surface science 1.Her story reminds us that transformative science can begin anywhere, even at a kitchen table.Her self-directed investigations helped shape the foundations of the physical chemistry of liquid interfaces.Working outside formal academic settings, she developed simple yet effective methods for measurement of surface tension offering valuable insights into interfacial behaviour."The Adsorption of Gases on Plane Surfaces of Glass, Mica, and Platinum" by Irving Langmuir introduced a quantitative model for monolayer adsorption 2.This study led to a foundation of surface and colloid chemistry with well-known Langmuir adsorption isotherm.A century later, his isotherm remains a cornerstone of modern surface science, and grew into a distinct discipline, with studies of adsorption and catalysis based on this concept.Progress accelerated significantly with advancement in ultra-high vacuum systems and the development of powerful surface-sensitive techniques such as Low-Energy Electron Diffraction (LEED) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS).These techniques made it possible to probe and study the surfaces at the atomic level.The invention of the Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) further transformed the field by enabling direct imaging of individual atoms.Today, surface science is a vibrant and interdisciplinary field, connecting areas like nanotechnology, materials science, catalysis, energy storage and generation, thin films, and biomedical implants, biosensors, drug delivery systems and many more.Twodimensional materials like Graphene and MXenes have driven exciting progress in electronics, photonics, and sensing applications 3,4.Surface sciences play a key role in developing sustainable technologies and improving modern devices.Research in surface science continues to expand, with growing focus on understanding stability, reproducibility, scalability, functionalization of surfaces and unfolding the mechanisms of reaction occurring at interfaces.However, real surfaces are often complex and dynamic, behaving quite differently under real operating conditions compared to ideal laboratory settings.Studies supported by advanced techniques such as in-situ and operando spectroscopy and microscopy are allowing scientists to study surfaces in action and bridging this