In 1824 the French mathematician Joseph Fourier published a paper asking why the Earth is as warm as it is. His calculations showed that a planet at the Earth's distance from the Sun should be much colder, and he suggested that the atmosphere acts like the glass of a hot box, letting in the Sun's light and retaining part of the heat radiated back. This is the first statement of the greenhouse effect. Fourier did not know which gases were responsible. John Tyndall identified water vapour and carbon dioxide in 1859, and Svante Arrhenius calculated the effect of changing CO2 in 1896.
Before and after
- 8 January 1823Birth of Alfred Russel Wallace
- from 31 August 1823 to 29 September 1833Ominous Decade
- 1824Founding of National Gallery
- 1824Founding of University of Manchester
- 1824Joseph Fourier describes the greenhouse effect
- 1824William Buckland describes Megalosaurus, the first dinosaur to be named
- 2 March 1824Birth of Bedřich Smetana
- from 5 March 1824 to 24 February 1826First Anglo-Burmese War
- 12 March 1824Birth of Gustav Kirchhoff
More in Science & technology
- 1766Discovery of hydrogen
- 1771Discovery of oxygen
- 1789Discovery of carbon
- 18 August 1868Discovery of helium
- 1875Discovery of gallium
- 1898Discovery of krypton
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.