Climate change has become a central point of public discourse in recent decades, with the public and scientific communities seeking to understand the causes, impacts, and solutions for global warming. This article will answer the question of when was global warming first identified, exploring the scientific history and research behind its identification.
The concept of global warming as an abnormally high temperature was first introduced as early as the late 19th century. In 1896, Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius proposed that human-caused increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide could lead to global warming. While initially dismissed, Arrhenius’ hypothesis would come to form the basis of our understanding of climate change today.
The 1950s saw an increased interest in the science of global warming, with a number of studies being conducted on the issue. In 1957, a British scientist, Guy Stewart Callendar, argued that global temperatures had risen rapidly since 1800, and hypothesized that this could be related to carbon dioxide emissions from industry. This established the natural relationship between atmospheric carbon dioxide and global temperatures that we recognize today.
In the ensuing decades, a number of further studies have further demonstrated the connection between human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases and global warming. In 1988, James Hansen, a physicist at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, made a presentation to the US Congress titled “Global Climate Change: An Overview” in which he detailed the potential effects of global warming caused by human activity. He strongly advocated for action to reduce global emissions, arguing that global temperatures had risen significantly over the past century and predicting they would continue to do so if action was not taken.
Since then, multiple case studies, peer-reviewed studies, and international reports have been released confirming the trend of global warming and its link to anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. The consensus among the scientific community is now clear – human carbon dioxide emissions are responsible for much of the global warming occurring today.
It is clear when studying the history of climate science that global warming was first identified in the late 19th century by Svante Arrhenius. Although initially dismissed, Arrhenius’ hypothesis was later developed upon in the 1950s and firmly established in the 1980s by James Hansen’s congressional presentation. Today, there is an overwhelming scientific consensus on the human impact on global temperatures. While there is still much to learn about climate change, one thing is clear – in order to address this pressing global issue, we must work together to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and mitigate the impacts of global warming.
