Eunice Newton Foote's 204th Birthday

Jul 17, 2023

Eunice Newton Foote's 204th Birthday

This interactive Doodle slideshowcelebrates American scientist and woment's rights activist Eunice Newton Foote, who is recognized as the first person to discover the greenhouse effect.

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Eunice Newton Foote's 204th Birthday

Eunice Newton Foote was born on this day in 1819 in Connecticut.

About the Doodle

Foote attended the Troy Female Seminary, a school that encouraged students to attend science lectures and participate in chemistry labs. While science became a lifelong passion for Foote, she also dedicated time to campaigning for women’s rights. In 1848, Foote attended the first Woman’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls. She was the fifth signatory of the Declaration of Sentiments—a document that demanded equality for women in social and legal status.

At this time, women were widely shunned from the scientific community. Undeterred, Foote conducted experiments on her own. After placing mercury thermometers in glass cylinders, she discovered that the cylinder containing carbon dioxide experienced the most significant heating effect in the sun. Foote was ultimately the first scientist to make the connection between rising carbon dioxide levels and the warming of the atmosphere.

After Foote published her findings, she produced her second study on atmospheric static electricity in the journal Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. These were the first two physics studies published by a woman in the US. Around 1856, a male scientist presented her work at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Those discussions led to further experiments which uncovered what is known as the Greenhouse effect—when gasses like carbon dioxide trap heat from the sun, the temperature of Earth’s atmosphere gradually rises.

Today, scientists all over the world are advancing climate science thanks to the foundation that Foote laid.

Happy Birthday, Eunice Newton Foote!

Illustrative sketch of Eunice Newton Foote sitting and writing in a book while looking at atoms.
The Story

About Eunice Newton Foote

Eunice Newton Foote was the first person to discover the greenhouse effect and its role in the warming of Earth’s climate. Click through this Doodle to explore the process of Foote’s scientific discovery!

On the Google blog,  we’re celebrating 6 women-led climate nonprofits following in the footsteps of Eunce Newton Foote. They’re using new technologies and innovative new approaches to build a more sustainable future, with support from Google.org.

Where this Doodle appeared

The Doodle Eunice Newton Foote's 204th Birthday launched Jul 17, 2023

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