The Pre-history of Climate Science

This talk is a description of how our understanding of the factors affecting Earth's temperature developed through the nineteenth century. Fourier (1815) was unable to understand why the Earth's surface temperature was as warm as it was. It was not until Tyndall’s discovery in the late 1850s of infrared absorption by carbon dioxide and water vapour that what we now call The Greenhouse Effect was understood. By developing technology, in the 1880’s Langley was able to measure the infrared spectrum of the moon and by compensating for atmospheric absorption, estimate its surface temperature. Building on Langley's insights, Arrhenius was able to estimate the effect of changes in atmospheric composition on the average temperature of the Earth’s surface - a phenomenon he thought could explain the (then recently discovered) Ice Ages.

Together, these scientists and engineers created the foundations on which modern Climate Science has been built.