Today, Google Doodle celebrates the 204th birth anniversary of Eunice Newton Foote, the American scientist and women’s rights activist who made significant contributions to climate science by first discovering the greenhouse effect and its role in global warming.
Born in Connecticut in 1819, Newton Foote attended Troy Female Seminary, a school that encouraged students to attend science classes and participate in chemistry labs for experiments. Since then, science has become his lifelong passion.
She conducted an experiment in 1856 that shaped today’s understanding of climate change by placing various gases in cylinders and exposing them to sunlight for observation.
Her second study on atmospheric static electricity was published in the journal American Association for the Advancement of Science. With this, she became the first female scientist to create two physics studies in the United States.
After the publication of two studies, Foote’s work was presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science by a male scientist who led an experiment that explored the understanding and meaning of the ‘greenhouse effect’.
Foote has also spent her entire life campaigning for women’s rights. She attended the first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls in 1848. She also became the fifth signer of the Declaration of Sentiment. It is a document that demands equality for women in social and legal status.
