We Knew About Climate Change in the 1800s

Why It Matters

Understanding that climate‑change science dates back 130 years emphasizes both the urgency of action and the importance of crediting early, overlooked contributors like Newtonfoot.

Key Takeaways

• Ununice Newtonfoot demonstrated CO₂ heat trapping in 1856 experiment.
• Foot's paper marked first American woman's physics publication.
• Her findings predated modern climate science by over a century.
• Research fell into obscurity, eclipsed by John Tyndall's fame.
• Recognizing fossil fuel CO₂ impact has existed for 130 years.

Summary

The video recounts the 1856 experiment by Ununice Newtonfoot, an American physicist, who showed that carbon dioxide absorbs heat, laying groundwork for climate science.

Newtonfoot filled glass cylinders with various gases, placed thermometers, and exposed them to sunlight; the CO₂ cylinder recorded the highest temperature. Her results were published in the American Journal of Science and Arts, marking the first known physics paper by an American woman. Three years later, Irish physicist John Tyndall independently reported similar findings and became credited with the discovery, while Newtonfoot’s work faded into obscurity.

Beyond science, Newtonfoot was an activist, inventor, and artist, organizing a women’s suffrage convention that, regrettably, excluded Black women. A Swedish chemist in 1896 later connected coal combustion to rising atmospheric CO₂, reinforcing the early warning.

The narrative underscores that the link between fossil‑fuel emissions and global warming has been understood for over a century, highlighting the need to acknowledge forgotten contributors and to act on long‑standing climate warnings.

Original Description

For women's history month, we take a look at Eunice Newton Foote's research, which revealed that carbon dioxide traps heat.