One hundred and thirty one years ago, on this day, December 24th, 1894,
Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius, in the midst of a gruesome divorce, started work on his climate model, Dec 24 1894 ( source for the date is Elizabeth Kolbert “H is for Hope” p12)
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 295ppm. As of 2025, when this post was published, it is 430ppm. This matters because the more carbon dioxide in the air, the more heat gets trapped. The more heat, the more extreme weather events. You can make it more complicated than that if you want, but really, it’s not. Fwiw, I have a tattoo of the Keeling Curve on my left forearm.
The broader context was that Arrhenius was aware of Tyndall’s work on “carbonic acid” in the atmosphere (but not Eunice Foote’s).
The specific context was – he was going through a messy and painful divorce and needed a Project to Distract Himself.
What I think we can learn from this – scientists make sacrifices etc.
What happened next was that Arrhenius published the work. He later got a Nobel Prize for chemistry (for other discoveries).
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.
Also on this day:
December 24, 1895 – Arrhenius explains the work that went in…
December 24, 1968 – “Earthrise” photo
December 24, 1990 – Australia as renewable energy superpower