John Tyndall was an
Irish experimental physicist
noted for work in magnetism
and diamagnetic polarity.
He was a pioneer
in infrared radiation.
He invented
a differential
spectrometer
to detect
the absorption
of heat ,
by small quantities
of gases held
in a sample tube.
He measured the relative
infrared absorptive powers
of gases such as nitrogen,
oxygen, water vapor,
carbon dioxide, ozone,
methane, etc.
Others had explored
the idea of the
greenhouse effect,
that solar radiation
can pass
through gases,
but part
of the radiation
from the earth
back to space,
is absorbed.
It was Tyndall’s
experiments
that gave the ideas
needed experimental
validity.
Tyndall recognized
the differences in
infrared absorption
properties between
dry air and moist air.
In 1861 Tyndall gave
an important paper
“On the absorption
and radiation of heat
by gases and vapours”
to the Royal Society
which many consider
as the founding
of climate science:
“Aqueous vapor
( water vapor )
is a blanket,
more necessary
to the vegetable life
of England than
clothing is to man.
Remove for a single
summer-night
the aqueous vapor
from the air which
overspreads
this country,
and you would
assuredly destroy
every plant capable
of being destroyed
by a freezing
temperature.
The warmth of our fields
and gardens would pour
itself unrequited into space,
and the sun would rise
upon an island held fast
in the iron grip of frost.”
– John Tyndall
(Heat: A Mode of Motion, 1861)
In 1896,
Swedish chemist
Svante Arrhenius
made precise
calculations,
but ten years later
recognized the
calculations
were erroneous
after reviewing
Tyndall’s
1861 paper.
The claim
by scientists
at NASA-GISS,
that carbon dioxide
is the control knob
of the earth’s climate,
is contradicted
by measurements.