Why did Foote’s work disappear for so long? Was this a case of historical erasure, or even intellectual theft? The truth is more subtle and interconnected, Jackson wrote.

For starters, Foote was regarded as an amateur scientist. She was also an American working at a time when the most important work in the field was being performed in Europe. And the world at that time did not exactly welcome the contributions of a woman.

“Eunice Foote was disadvantaged not only by this lack of an academic community in America and poor communication with Europe, but by two further factors: her gender and her amateur status,” Jackson wrote.

Jackson acknowledged that “Foote does seem to have been the first person to notice the ability of carbon dioxide and water vapor to absorb heat, and to make the direct link between the variability of these atmospheric constituents and climate change.” He added, “For that she deserves proper recognition, even if she was not able to explore, and perhaps did not recognize, the distinction between solar radiation and radiated heat from the earth.”

Hayhoe of Texas Tech put it this way: “The conclusion she came to is correct, but the conclusion was not actually supported by her experiment,” because she didn’t distinguish between visible and infrared radiation “and the greenhouse effect is primarily due to the latter, not the former.”

But Foote, she said, “was the first person to say in print that if carbon dioxide levels were higher, the planet would be warmer.” That alone, she said, was “an amazing accomplishment, and she should be absolutely celebrated for that.”

Marveling at how much Foote was able to accomplish given the limited horizons for women of her time, Hayhoe pondered, “What would she have accomplished if she had been born today?”