New histories of science, technology, and medicine: Discovery of Global Warming (PDF)

In 2001 an international panel of climate scientists announced that the world was warming at a rate without precedent during at least the last two millennia. The story of how scientists reached that conclusion was the story Weart told in The Discovery of Global Warming. The award-winning book is now revised and expanded to reflect the latest science. The award-winning book is now revised and expanded. In 2001 an international panel of distinguished climate scientists announced that the world was warming at a rate without precedent during at least the last two millennia, and that warming was caused by the buildup of greenhouse gases from human activity. The story of how scientists reached that conclusion-by way of unexpected twists and turns-was the story Spencer Weart told in The Discovery of Global Warming. Now he brings his award-winning account up to date, revised throughout to reflect the latest science and with a new conclusion that shows how the scientific consensus caught fire among the general world public, and how a new understanding of the human meaning of climate change spurred individuals and governments to action. "e;Charting the evolution and confirmation of the theory [of global warming], Weart dissects the interwoven threads of research and reveals the political and societal subtexts that colored scientists' views and the public reception their work received."e;-Andrew C. Revkin, New York Times Book Review