History of climate change science

The development of scientific understanding of climate change, from early ideas about greenhouse warming to modern measurements, attribution, and projections.

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Joseph Fourier: French mathematician and physicist who described how the atmosphere helps retain heat near Earth’s surface. His 1820s account of atmospheric heat retention laid groundwork for the greenhouse effect.
Greenhouse effect: The warming of a planet’s surface and lower atmosphere when gases absorb and re-emit outgoing infrared radiation. Its physical explanation anchors scientific accounts of how added carbon dioxide warms Earth.
Instrumental temperature record: A collection of direct thermometer measurements used to estimate changes in global or regional temperature over time. Its expanding coverage made contemporary warming visible across decades and continents.
Charney Report: A 1979 US National Research Council assessment estimating warming from doubled atmospheric carbon dioxide. It crystallized expert estimates of climate sensitivity and the likelihood of substantial warming.
Climate model: A mathematical representation of the climate system used to simulate its behavior and project future conditions. Models embody successive scientific understanding and expose where projections remain uncertain.
Eunice Newton Foote: American scientist whose 1856 experiments found that carbon dioxide and water vapor warm when exposed to sunlight. Her experiment provided an early observation linking carbon dioxide with atmospheric warming.
Radiative forcing: A change in Earth’s energy balance caused by factors such as greenhouse gases, aerosols, or solar variation. It provides a common framework for comparing climate influences identified over time.
Ice core: A cylinder of ice drilled from a glacier or ice sheet that preserves layers, gases, and particles from the past. Trapped air in ice cores extended atmospheric records far beyond direct measurements.
Villach Conference: A 1985 international scientific conference that warned greenhouse warming could become consequential in the coming decades. Its findings helped move climate change from specialist science toward international policy.
Aerosol–cloud interactions: The processes by which airborne particles affect cloud formation, properties, and climate effects. Their complex cooling influence has complicated estimates of net human-caused warming.