A Miss you May have Missed: Eunice Newton Foote
“Science was of no country and of no sex. The sphere of woman embraces not only the beautiful and the useful, but the true.” — Joseph Henry
Joseph Fourier. John Tyndall. Svante Arrhenius.
These are some of the names that appear as I type ‘The History of Climate Change’ into my computer. Endless articles, webinars and podcasts on Charles Keeling, Knut Angstrom and Alexander von Humboldt. Even the Ancient Greeks make a brief appearance.
Continuing my search, it is not until the tenth page do I come across the name of the woman whom I initially set out to find. Only a brief mention, followed by an extensive paragraph on John Tyndall’s contribution to our understanding of climate science.
Eunice Newton Foote.
Scientist, Women’s Rights Activist, Inventor and Mother.
Born in 1819 in Goshen, Connecticut to a large, middle class family, little is known about Foote’s life. But from the few letters and documents we have of hers, one thing is evident. Foote’s love of science. While attending Troy Female Seminary, she spent her free time attending science lectures in a nearby college, given her the opportunity to learn chemistry, biology, and botany. Captivated by topics such as the properties of gases and climate science and encouraged by female scientists such as Almira Hart Lincoln, a world-renowned botanist, Foote grew curious about the world surrounding her and was inspired to conduct her own experiments.
Sixteen papers were published by women in the nineteenth century, two of which were Foote’s. It was in 1856 when Foote published the first of her two papers, ‘Circumstances affecting the Heat of the Sun’s Rays’. In it, she describes a straightforward, yet ground-breaking experiment.
Due to her lack of equipment, the apparatus used was simple. Two glass cylinders, an air pump, and a thermometer. Placing these cylinders in sunlight, she recorded the temperature rise of different gases, such as Hydrogen, Oxygen and most importantly Carbon Dioxide, which was known as ‘Carbonic Acid Gas’, at that time. Foote observed that the latter gas ‘became itself much more heated … and on being removed, it was many times as long cooling’ concluding ‘the air mixed with [Carbonic Acid Gas] at a larger proportion than present, an increased temperature .. must have necessarily resulted’. A statement we nowadays think as common sense but was unheard of at the time of her experiment.
Her paper was presented to the American Association of Advancement of Science is 1856 at the yearly conference, by Joseph Henry of the Smithsonian Institute. During this conference, little people acknowledged her work, and she was quickly dismissed. Yet, three years later, when Irish physicist Joseph Tyndall came to the same conclusion as Foote, his result was considered revolutionary. Because of his findings, Tyndall is now seen as the founder of climate science, despite Foote’s work three years prior. She, like so many other women in science, was ignored and forgotten.
And not only was Foote a scientist. While completing these experiments, Foote fought for Women’s Rights in America, being one the signatures in the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, “a convention to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman”. Foote was also an intimate friend to the woman’s suffrage leader Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the leader of the early suffrage movement in America. Throughout her life, Foote was a supporter of the early suffragette movement, working on the publications and proceedings of documents such as the important ‘Declarations of Sentiments’. Foote was a woman of many talents and abilities, yet throughout her life, she failed to receive the credit she clearly deserved for her astounding and innovative work.
So, as we come together (albeit remotely) and celebrate Earth Day this week, we celebrate the many scientists and activists who have contributed to the field of climate science and advanced our understanding of the world we live in today.
People such as Guy Stewart Callendar, Roger Revelle, James Hansen.
But this year, let us not ignore Eunice Newton Foote.
The woman, who defied society and fought for gender equality.
The woman, determined to continue her work, despite the challenges and barrier she faced.
The woman, that history almost forgot.
Further Reading:
Foote, Eunice (November 1856). ”Circumstances affecting the Heat of the Sun’s Rays”. American Journal of Science and Arts. 22: 382–383 Reed, Elizabeth Wagner (1992).
”Eunice Newton Foote”. American women in science before the civil war Sorenson, Raymond (11 January 2011).
”Eunice Foote’s Pioneering Research On CO2 And Climate Warming” Credit: American Journal of Science, 1857 — ENF paper
https://pbs.twimg.com/media /CKXzBSKWwAEzQT8.jpg, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons — seneca womens rights
