2. Spencer R. Weart, "The Discovery of The Risk of Global Warming," Physics Today, 50(1), 34-40 (Jan 97).
Resource #4 of our Fall 1996 issue called attention to Arrhenius' recognition of the global warming effect of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This article goes on to describe research done from Arrhenius' time until today and its concern about global warming. Concerns were minimized by early beliefs that carbon dioxide generated from fossil fuel combustion was absorbed in the ocean or that, since only a small amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide blocked infrared radiation, additional amounts caused no greater effect. Yet Callendar's study of global warming between 1890 and 1930 allowed him to attribute an effect from increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere; this was followed by further similar work by Keeling in the late 1950s.
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