Google Doodle: Faced Discrimination By Male Scientists, She Not Only Became First Person To Discover 'Greenhouse Effect' But Fought For Women's Rights

Google Doodle

New Delhi: Google has celebrated the 204th birth anniversary of American scientists and women’s rights activist Eunice Newton Foote. She was the first person to discover the greenhouse effect and its role in the warming of Earth’s climate.

Foote’s Early Life and Education

Foote was born on July 17 in 1819 in Connecticut, USA. She attended the the Troy Female Seminary, a school that encouraged students to attend science lectures and participate in chemistry labs. She fought against the society that was deeply entrenched and dominated by Patriarchy, where female scientists were subdued.

Foote’s Breakthrough Discovery

Foote conducted experiments on her own when she was ostracized by the scientific community. “After placing mercury thermometers in glass cylinders, she discovered that the cylinder containing carbon dioxide experienced the most significant heating effect in the sun,” Google Doodle mentioned. Foote was ultimately the first scientist to make the connection between rising carbon dioxide levels and the warming of the atmosphere.  

First Two Physics Studies By Women In US

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. 

Her studies were presented by a male scientists in 1856 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.   

Her Role In Women’s Rights

Along with a lifelong passion for science, She also dedicated timet 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.