When Was Global Warming Discovered? The Earliest Science Pointing to Climate Change

Though the global warming debate appears to have intensified in the past few decades, an overwhelming majority of scientists feel that humans have contributed to the planet's increasing temperatures, but when this phenomenon first discovered?

Research into what makes Earth unique goes back centuries.

French mathematician and natural philosopher Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier (1768-1830) is known in the scientific community for groundbreaking work in the theory of heat, and is credited with being the first to propose a connection between the Earth's atmosphere and the planet's temperature.

In 1862, John Tyndall described a key element to climate change, when he discovered in a laboratory experiment that certain gases, such water vapor and CO2 aren't transparent to heat rays. He understood the relationship that gases high in the Earth's atmosphere had in relation to keeping the planet warm by interfering with escaping radiation, echoing some of the earliest speculations regarding how atmospheric composition might affect climate.

Of the thinkers, Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius was the first to claim that fossil fuel combustion may lead to enhanced global warming. He suggested a relationship between CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere and temperature, according to "The Discovery of Global Warming," written by Spencer Weart.
Arrhenius was fascinated by the ice ages. His 1896 theory to explain it earned him the distinction of being the first to try to measure how changes in CO2 levels in the atmosphere could alter the surface temperature through the greenhouse effect. He was the first to predict that CO2 emissions from the burning of fossil fuels and other combustion processes were causing global warming.

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http://www.wno.org/climate-change-history

Scientists cite greenhouse gases as the number one cause of global warming. The greenhouse analogy was first used by French physicist Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier in 1827, long before the general population was concerned about global warming. Swedish scientist Svante August Arrhenius built on Fourier’s work in 1896 and correctly determined that carbon dioxide produced by the combustion of fossil fuels would augment the Earth’s natural greenhouse effect and produce global warming.

At first, many scientists struggled to accept Arrhenius’s theory until the late 1950s, when studies of carbon dioxide measurements were conducted in Hawaii. The study confirmed the rise of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and in 1967, computer simulations determined that global average temperatures might increase by more than four degrees Fahrenheit if carbon dioxide levels were not controlled. Over the next 20 years, additional studies confirmed Arrhenius’s theory and encouraged the international community to take action regarding global warming.In 1979, scientists from around the world gathered in Geneva at the World Meteorological Organization‘s first major global warming conference. Throughout the conference, scientists from a wide range of disciplines discussed climate data and impact studies in an effort to help countries cope with climate changes.

Eleven years later, the United Nations founded anIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and warned that strong measures would be necessary to prevent significant global warming.

In 1992, Rio de Janeiro hosted the Earth Summit, a gathering of representatives from 145 nations. During the summit, representatives signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, a non-binding document that challenged countries to set voluntary targets for reducing the emission of greenhouse gases. In 1997, the Kyoto Protocol was signed by 178 countries. The legally-binding document required signatory nations to cut emissions beginning in 2005.

Since then, the IPCC has announced that the Earth’s average temperature has risen by 0.8 degrees Celsius. Even in the face of this alarming discovery, over one third of the world’s population remains unaware of global warming. Misunderstandings abound about the cause of climate change, and many people around the world reject the fact that most global warming is caused by human activities. Others believe that the media exaggerates the problem and therefore underestimate the serious consequences global warming has had and will continue to have on the planet’s ecosystems, weather patterns and wildlife.