Theory of the effect of carbon dioxide gas on atmospheric temperature
Spouse
Elisha Foote
(m. 1841; died 1883)
Children
Mary
Augusta
Signature
Eunice Newton Foote (July 17, 1819 – September 30, 1888) was an American scientist, inventor, and women's rights campaigner. She was the first scientist to confirm that certain gases warm when exposed to sunlight, and that therefore rising carbon dioxide (CO2) levels could increase atmospheric temperature and affect climate, a phenomenon now referred to as the Greenhouse effect. Born in Connecticut, Foote was raised in New York at the center of social and political movements of her day, such as the abolition of slavery, anti-alcohol activism, and women's rights. She attended the Troy Female Seminary and the Rensselaer School from age 17–19, gaining a broad education in scientific theory and practice.
After marrying attorney Elisha Foote in 1841, Foote settled in Seneca Falls, New York. She was a signatory to the Declaration of Sentiments and one of the editors of the proceedings of the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, the first gathering to treat women's rights as its sole focus. In 1856 she published a paper notable for demonstrating the absorption of heat by CO2 and water vapor and hypothesizing that changing amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere would alter the climate. It was the first known publication in a scientific journal by an American woman in the field of physics. She published a second paper in 1857, on static electricity in atmospheric gases. Although she was not a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), both her papers were read at the organization's annual conferences—these were the only papers in the field of physics to be written by an American woman until 1889. She went on to patent several inventions.
Foote died in 1888 and for almost a hundred years her contributions were unknown, before being rediscovered by women academics in the twentieth century. In the twenty-first century, new interest in Foote arose when it was realized that her work predated discoveries made by John Tyndall, who had been recognized by scientists as the first person to experimentally show the mechanism of the greenhouse effect involving infrared radiation. Detailed examination of her work by modern scientists has confirmed that three years before Tyndall published his paper in 1859, Foote discovered that water vapor and CO2 absorb heat from sunlight. Furthermore, her view that variances in the atmospheric levels of water vapor and CO2 would result in climate change preceded Tyndall's 1861 publication by five years. Because of the limits of her experimental design, and possibly a lack of knowledge of infrared radiation, Foote did not examine or detect the absorption and emission of radiant energy within the thermal infrared range, which is the cause of the greenhouse effect. In 2022, the American Geophysical Union instituted The Eunice Newton Foote Medal for Earth-Life Science in her honor to recognize outstanding scientific research.
and 27 Related for: Eunice Newton Foote information
EuniceNewtonFoote (July 17, 1819 – September 30, 1888) was an American scientist, inventor, and women's rights campaigner. She was the first scientist...
further strengthened by Claude Pouillet in 1827 and 1838. In 1856 EuniceNewtonFoote demonstrated that the warming effect of the sun is greater for air...
further strengthened by Claude Pouillet in 1827 and 1838. In 1856 EuniceNewtonFoote demonstrated that the warming effect of the sun is greater for air...
father was Elisha Foote, a judge, mathematician, inventor, and a commissioner of the US Patent Office. Her mother was EuniceNewton, who is considered...
women's rights campaigner EuniceNewtonFoote. Foote was born in Lee, Massachusetts on August 1, 1809. He was the son of Elisha Foote (died April 8, 1846)...
advocate Eunice Eisden (born 1961), Curaçaoan politician EuniceNewtonFoote (1819–1888), American atmospheric scientist and civil rights advocate Eunice Frost...
Seneca Falls, New York, the daughter of EuniceNewton, a scientist and women's rights campaigner, and Elisha Foote, a prominent lawyer and judge, and the...
captures some of that heat, which in turn warms the planet. In 1856 EuniceNewtonFoote demonstrated that the warming effect of the Sun is greater for air...
all also signers Samuel D. Tillman Justin Williams Elisha Foote - spouse of EuniceNewtonFoote Frederick Douglass Henry W. Seymour - spouse of Malvina...
Fondren, U.S. – entrepreneur, inventor and credit markets expert EuniceNewtonFoote (1819–1888), U.S. – greenhouse effect, boot soles Enrico Forlanini...
early American women to be botanists, including EuniceNewtonFoote and her daughter, Augusta NewtonFoote Arnold. Though she primarily wrote regarding nature...
devised many of the procedures for mixture analysis. Carbon dioxide EuniceNewtonFoote was the first scientist to make the connection between the amount...
Louisiana since 2010 EuniceNewtonFoote (1819–1888), American scientist, inventor and feminist Francis Onslow Barrington Foote (1850–1911), British army...
appointed to edit and publish the convention proceedings, with Amy Post, EuniceNewtonFoote, Mary Ann M'Clintock Jr., Elizabeth W. M'Clintock and Stanton serving...
42% of students are on financial aid. List of Emma Willard Alumnae EuniceNewtonFoote: the first scientist known to have experimented on the warming effect...
American climate scientist with the Carnegie Institution for Science EuniceNewtonFoote (1819–1888), American scientist, first to demonstrate that increased...
Senator from Indiana from 1845 to 1853 (born 1809) September 30 – EuniceNewtonFoote, physicist and women's rights campaigner (born 1819) October 16 –...
(died 1892), Cornish-born mathematician and astronomer. July 17 – EuniceNewtonFoote (died 1888), American physicist and women's rights campaigner. July...
radiation. Three years earlier, in 1856, the American scientist EuniceNewtonFoote had announced experiments demonstrating that water vapour and carbon...
physicist Mary Somerville (1780–1872), British physicist, polymath: 280 EuniceNewtonFoote (1819–1888), American inventor and physicist who first discovered...
Members of the Royal Astronomical Society. 1856: Amateur scientist EuniceNewtonFoote provides the first demonstration of the warming effect of the sun...
earliest photographs of the moon. 1856: American atmospheric scientist EuniceNewtonFoote presented her paper "Circumstances affecting the heat of the sun's...
plants Jane Fonda (born 1937), actress, feminist and environmentalist EuniceNewtonFoote (1819–1888), scientist who discovered the effect of carbon dioxide...
published in science before the American Civil War. Among them were EuniceNewtonFoote and Mary Amelia Swift. Reed's own legacy was obscured by her husband's...
Richard A. Proctor (born 1837), English astronomer. September 30 – EuniceNewtonFoote (born 1819), American physicist and women's rights campaigner. October...
Global Information
