Svante Arrhenius

 Svante Arrhenius was a Swedish physicist and chemist and Nobel Prize for chemistry recipient who helped found the field of physical chemistry. He is commonly known for the Arrhenius equation (temperature dependence of reaction rates) and Arrhenius acids/bases, both of which are taught in gen chem. Less well known is his estimation of how much an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide contributes to global surface temperature warming of the Earth, the first to exist using principles of physical chemistry. He concluded, and was the first to do so, that human-caused carbon dioxide emissions from combustion/burning processes are significant enough to cause faster global warming than typical rates. His work was the basis for a lot of modern climate science and inspired many others to link carbon dioxide/greenhouse gas levels and global warming.

 

Link: https://history.aip.org/climate/co2.htm

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