In the modern era, the discovery of what we now call the Greenhouse Effect is generally credited to the great mathematician and physicist, Joseph Fourier. In fact he created an experimental model demonstrating the effect [in the 1820s]. Following that, the first proof that humans were causing a fundamental change in the global concentration of the Greenhouse gas CO2 resulted from the daily measurements of tropospheric carbon dioxide at the Mauna Loa Observatory by Charles ("Dave") Keeling, begun in March 1958. This research proved for the first time that mankind was altering the composition of the air globally, "legitimalizing concern over human caused climate change" [Ralph Keeling, 2015]. By March 2016 the global CO2 concentration increased from 315.7 ppmv to 401.5 ppmv. The "Keeling Curve" was of such historic significance that it was included in the American Chemical Society's National Historic Chemical Landmarks on June 12, 2016 at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, UC San Diego campus. Meanwhile there was a profound metrological development, with atom counting of C-14 replacing decay counting, yielding an increase in sensitivity of up to 104 -- where atom counting was accomplished by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry [AMS]. AMS led to totally new advances in Climate Change Research, including the World Ocean Circulation Experiment [WOCE] at Woods Hole. As of 1991 I was Chairman of the National Ocean Sciences Advisory Board of the Woods Hole AMS Laboratory. The current climate disasters represent the unfortunate consequence of policymakers wanting first to "see" the effects of global warming -- by then it was too late!

On the early history of climate change research

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.