Short answers, pulled from the story.
Sir Roderick Impey Murchison introduced the term Permian into geology in 1841. He named it after the region of Perm in Russia following extensive explorations with Édouard de Verneuil near the Ural Mountains during 1840 and 1841.
The United States Geological Survey finally accepted the Permian system as distinct from the Carboniferous in 1941. The system remained controversial for over a century before this official recognition occurred.
The Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Asselian stage sits in the Aidaralash River valley near Aqtöbe, Kazakhstan. This boundary was ratified in 1996 and marks the first appearance of Streptognathodus postfusus.
During the Permian all Earth's major landmasses collected into a single supercontinent known as Pangaea. Microcontinental terranes like Cathaysia sat to the east while Pangaea straddled the equator extending toward the poles.
Ninety to 95 percent of marine species vanished along with 70 percent of all land organisms during the Permian-Triassic extinction event. Recovery from this catastrophe took ecosystems 30 million years on land.