Scientists
Eunice Newton Foote
Climate Science Pioneer
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An American amateur scientist and women's rights campaigner, a signatory of the 1848 Seneca Falls declaration, whose 1856 experiments with sun-warmed gas cylinders anticipated the greenhouse effect. Her paper was read at the American Association for the Advancement of Science by Joseph Henry rather than by Foote herself, then dropped from view for over 150 years until historians rediscovered it in the 2010s.
Facts
BirthplaceGoshen, Connecticut, United States 1 Defining ContributionHer 1856 experiments showed that carbon dioxide and water vapor trap the sun's heat far more than ordinary air, and she drew the conclusion in print: an atmosphere richer in carbon dioxide would give the Earth a higher temperature. It is the earliest known published statement of the idea. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
The earliest known published statement that more atmospheric carbon dioxide means a warmer Earth.
Precursor To
Foote's 1856 experiments anticipated the carbon dioxide warming Arrhenius quantified in 1896; no line of influence is documented, and her priority was recognized only on the paper's modern rediscovery.
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