1
00:00:02,279 --> 00:00:05,520
Speaker 1: Happy Saturday if you're not caught up on this news.

2
00:00:05,800 --> 00:00:09,080
Speaker 1: The US federal government has been cutting funding for wind

3
00:00:09,119 --> 00:00:13,000
Speaker 1: and solar projects, and pushing for increased use of fossil fuels,

4
00:00:13,039 --> 00:00:18,360
Speaker 1: and proposing to illegally terminate the orbiting carbon observatory satellites

5
00:00:18,400 --> 00:00:22,520
Speaker 1: that monitor carbon dioxide growth and plant growth, just sending

6
00:00:22,600 --> 00:00:26,560
Speaker 1: functional satellites to burn up in the atmosphere, and otherwise

7
00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:30,520
Speaker 1: sabotaging American contributions to the global effort to try to

8
00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:33,559
Speaker 1: slow the rate of climate change. That is something that

9
00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:36,280
Speaker 1: will have a destructive impact on the entire planet, but

10
00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:39,280
Speaker 1: especially some of the poorest and most vulnerable parts of

11
00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:42,879
Speaker 1: the world, many of which are already struggling with things

12
00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:46,839
Speaker 1: like extreme weather and sea level rise. So for today's

13
00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:50,960
Speaker 1: Saturday Classic, we are replaying our episode on Unice Newton Foot,

14
00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:54,760
Speaker 1: the first scientists known to make a connection between greenhouse

15
00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:59,280
Speaker 1: gases like carbon dioxide and a warming climate. She did

16
00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:02,200
Speaker 1: this almost one hundred and seventy years ago in eighteen

17
00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:06,200
Speaker 1: fifty six, and this episode originally came out on September eighth,

18
00:01:06,319 --> 00:01:09,640
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one. Here about to write us an email

19
00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:12,640
Speaker 1: thing that we only care about the climate during the

20
00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:20,080
Speaker 1: Trump administration Joe Biden was president. Then Welcome to Stuff

21
00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:30,080
Speaker 1: You Missed in History Class, a production of iHeartRadio. Hello,

22
00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:33,320
Speaker 1: and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson and

23
00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:37,560
Speaker 1: I'm Holly Frye. We have done various episodes related to

24
00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:40,360
Speaker 1: the environment on the show before, so things like the

25
00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:44,160
Speaker 1: Donor smog and the Cuyahoga River fires and the London

26
00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:48,320
Speaker 1: smog of nineteen fifty two. We talked about extinctions in

27
00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:52,360
Speaker 1: our twenty eighteen episode on endlings, and about invasive species

28
00:01:52,480 --> 00:01:56,000
Speaker 1: in our episode on Australia's rabbit Proof Fence, and then

29
00:01:56,040 --> 00:01:59,760
Speaker 1: in more recent times in our episode on Kudzuo that

30
00:01:59,840 --> 00:02:03,160
Speaker 1: came out not too long ago. While all of these

31
00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:08,520
Speaker 1: topics are related to the environment and humans and industries'

32
00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:11,840
Speaker 1: impacts on the environment, none of it's really about climate.

33
00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:15,280
Speaker 1: I don't know that we've ever talked about the climate

34
00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:20,200
Speaker 1: in terms of like the current climate crisis. We've talked

35
00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:22,480
Speaker 1: about things like the year without a summer, which was

36
00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:27,720
Speaker 1: a climactic phenomenon. Yeah, and we've talked about ways different

37
00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:33,359
Speaker 1: scientists have measured various aspects of the climate a little bit. Yeah,

38
00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:36,240
Speaker 1: some of that has come up in unearthed. Yeah, not

39
00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:41,079
Speaker 1: climate itself specifically, Yeah, and the warming of the climate

40
00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:46,760
Speaker 1: in particular, which is an ongoing emergency obviously. So today

41
00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:49,120
Speaker 1: we are going to remedy that. We're going to talk about.

42
00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:52,920
Speaker 1: Unice Newton foot and in eighteen fifty six she became

43
00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:55,880
Speaker 1: the first person to make a connection between the Earth's

44
00:02:55,919 --> 00:03:00,000
Speaker 1: temperature and the concentration of carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere.

45
00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:04,880
Speaker 1: That credit, though, usually goes to John Tendall, who made

46
00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:08,560
Speaker 1: the same connection a few years later. Eunice Newton was

47
00:03:08,639 --> 00:03:13,040
Speaker 1: born in Goshen, Connecticut, on July seventeenth, eighteen nineteen, and

48
00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:15,800
Speaker 1: she was baptized on September twenty ninth of that year.

49
00:03:16,520 --> 00:03:19,280
Speaker 1: Her father's name was Isaac Newton Junior, which is a

50
00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:23,880
Speaker 1: delightful coincidence considering Eunice's path in life, and her mother's

51
00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:27,280
Speaker 1: name was Thursa, and Eunice was the eleventh of their

52
00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:33,280
Speaker 1: twelve children. Isaac not a scientist or a philosopher, but

53
00:03:33,320 --> 00:03:36,200
Speaker 1: a farmer, and although he seems to have been very

54
00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:40,120
Speaker 1: successful at this, he also liked to invest in various

55
00:03:40,160 --> 00:03:43,360
Speaker 1: business ventures, and these did not always work out, and

56
00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:45,920
Speaker 1: by the time he died in eighteen thirty five, he

57
00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:49,760
Speaker 1: was deeply in debt. Sometime after Eunice was born, but

58
00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:54,040
Speaker 1: well before her father's death, the family moved to East Bloomfield,

59
00:03:54,160 --> 00:03:56,760
Speaker 1: New York, and that's where Unice's parents would live for

60
00:03:56,800 --> 00:03:59,600
Speaker 1: the rest of their lives. And really beyond that, we

61
00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:02,320
Speaker 1: just don't know much about her early life, except that

62
00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:04,960
Speaker 1: in eighteen thirty six, when she was about seventeen, she

63
00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:08,960
Speaker 1: enrolled at Troy Female Seminary that later became known as

64
00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:12,800
Speaker 1: the Emma Willard School after its founder. It's possible that

65
00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:17,360
Speaker 1: Unice left journals, correspondents, or other personal accounts of her

66
00:04:17,400 --> 00:04:20,440
Speaker 1: time in Troy or other times in her life, but

67
00:04:20,520 --> 00:04:22,599
Speaker 1: if she did, they have not been brought to light.

68
00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:25,039
Speaker 1: So we don't really know much more about her time

69
00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:27,560
Speaker 1: at the seminary than we do about her earlier life.

70
00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:30,559
Speaker 1: But there are a couple of conclusions that we can draw.

71
00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:34,120
Speaker 1: One is that her education there would have had a

72
00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:37,400
Speaker 1: really strong foundation in science, and that's something that wasn't

73
00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:41,679
Speaker 1: really typical for a women's school at the time. Emma

74
00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:46,480
Speaker 1: Willard corresponded and collaborated with Amice Eaton, who was co

75
00:04:46,600 --> 00:04:51,240
Speaker 1: founder of the Rensalier School that's now Rensalier Polytechnic Institute

76
00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:54,960
Speaker 1: that was about seven miles or eleven kilometers away from Troy.

77
00:04:55,760 --> 00:04:59,280
Speaker 1: Eaton was a natural scientist and an educational reformer, and

78
00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:02,719
Speaker 1: his reform included a focus on learning by doing rather

79
00:05:02,760 --> 00:05:07,880
Speaker 1: than focusing on memorization. So Willard's curriculum for the Women's

80
00:05:07,880 --> 00:05:11,599
Speaker 1: Seminary incorporated a lot of these ideas. So Eunice would

81
00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:15,440
Speaker 1: not only have attended lecturers on the scientists, she also

82
00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:18,839
Speaker 1: would have learned about designing and conducting experiments as part

83
00:05:18,839 --> 00:05:22,600
Speaker 1: of scientific study. It's also possible that Unice's time at

84
00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:25,440
Speaker 1: the seminary influenced a connection that would happen later in

85
00:05:25,440 --> 00:05:28,960
Speaker 1: her life. Eunice was at the seminary from eighteen thirty

86
00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:32,040
Speaker 1: six to eighteen thirty eight, and later on she would

87
00:05:32,080 --> 00:05:35,799
Speaker 1: live near and work with Elizabeth Katie Stanton, who graduated

88
00:05:35,839 --> 00:05:39,680
Speaker 1: from Troy Female Seminary in eighteen thirty two. So it

89
00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:43,479
Speaker 1: is possible, but not really documented anywhere, that these two

90
00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:46,159
Speaker 1: women fell to connection thanks to their having gone to

91
00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:49,920
Speaker 1: the same school. On August twelfth, eighteen forty one, when

92
00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:53,720
Speaker 1: Unice was twenty two, she married Elisha Foote, who was

93
00:05:53,760 --> 00:05:57,039
Speaker 1: about ten years older than she was. After their marriage,

94
00:05:57,080 --> 00:05:59,760
Speaker 1: they moved to Seneca Falls, New York, also home to

95
00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:04,440
Speaker 1: Alizabeth Katy Stanton. At one point, Elisha actually bought the

96
00:06:04,520 --> 00:06:07,840
Speaker 1: home that's known today as the Elizabeth Katy Stanton House,

97
00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:11,480
Speaker 1: although it doesn't look like the Foots ever lived in

98
00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:15,560
Speaker 1: that house. Both of Eunice and Elishah's children were born

99
00:06:15,600 --> 00:06:18,359
Speaker 1: in Seneca Falls, and those were Mary, who was born

100
00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:22,000
Speaker 1: on July twenty first of eighteen forty two, and Augusta,

101
00:06:22,120 --> 00:06:25,760
Speaker 1: who was born October twenty fourth, eighteen forty four. In

102
00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:29,279
Speaker 1: eighteen forty eight, while living in Seneca Falls, both Eunice

103
00:06:29,279 --> 00:06:32,440
Speaker 1: and Elisha were involved with the women's rights movement and

104
00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:36,040
Speaker 1: the Seneca Falls Convention. Eunice was one of the five

105
00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:38,640
Speaker 1: women on the committee that was tasked with keeping the

106
00:06:38,680 --> 00:06:43,240
Speaker 1: conference proceedings. She and Elisha also both signed the Declaration

107
00:06:43,279 --> 00:06:47,239
Speaker 1: of Sentiments that was crafted during the convention. On most

108
00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:52,640
Speaker 1: reproductions of that document, Eunice's signature is fifth after Lucretia Mott,

109
00:06:53,240 --> 00:06:58,359
Speaker 1: Harriet Katy Eaton, Margaret Pryor, and Elizabeth Katy Stanton. Again,

110
00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:01,120
Speaker 1: we don't have a lot of person remembrance of her,

111
00:07:01,279 --> 00:07:04,000
Speaker 1: but all of this suggests that she was an active

112
00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:06,799
Speaker 1: and involved participant in this phase of the women's rights

113
00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:10,600
Speaker 1: movement in the United States. While living in Seneca Falls,

114
00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:14,080
Speaker 1: Unice became a member of the American Art Union, which

115
00:07:14,120 --> 00:07:16,920
Speaker 1: worked to promote the creation and sale of American art.

116
00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:21,080
Speaker 1: Elisha became District attorney for Seneca County and then a

117
00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:25,320
Speaker 1: judge of the Court of Common Pleas. Eventually, the Foots

118
00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:29,000
Speaker 1: moved from Seneca Falls to Saratoga Springs, New York. And

119
00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:32,440
Speaker 1: regardless of where they lived, both Elisha and Unis seem

120
00:07:32,480 --> 00:07:36,840
Speaker 1: to have both been really interested in experiments and inventions.

121
00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:40,280
Speaker 1: Their published work suggests that they set up laboratories in

122
00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:43,280
Speaker 1: their homes where they did experimental work that they hoped

123
00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:47,000
Speaker 1: would be worthy of publication. This includes the papers that

124
00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:50,040
Speaker 1: were read at the American Association for the Advancement of

125
00:07:50,080 --> 00:07:53,000
Speaker 1: Science meeting in eighteen fifty six, which is where we

126
00:07:53,080 --> 00:07:56,600
Speaker 1: are at chronologically in this story. But we're going to

127
00:07:56,640 --> 00:08:00,480
Speaker 1: have a lengthier discussion of Unice's scientific work later, so

128
00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:03,160
Speaker 1: for now we will move on to the rest of

129
00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:06,280
Speaker 1: what we know about her life. In addition to their

130
00:08:06,320 --> 00:08:10,720
Speaker 1: published scientific work, both Elisha and Unice applied for and

131
00:08:10,760 --> 00:08:15,640
Speaker 1: were granted multiple patents. Unice's patents included one for a

132
00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:20,080
Speaker 1: quote filling for soles of boots and shoes. This kept

133
00:08:20,120 --> 00:08:23,800
Speaker 1: the boots and the shoes from squeaking. That patent was

134
00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:28,480
Speaker 1: issued in eighteen sixty. Later, she developed a paper making machine.

135
00:08:28,680 --> 00:08:31,560
Speaker 1: According to a favorable writeup of this machine in the

136
00:08:31,600 --> 00:08:35,959
Speaker 1: Boston Post in eighteen sixty four, one Massachusetts paper maker

137
00:08:36,040 --> 00:08:38,680
Speaker 1: that put this invention into use was saving one hundred

138
00:08:38,679 --> 00:08:42,040
Speaker 1: and fifty seven dollars a day in materials, which would

139
00:08:42,080 --> 00:08:45,280
Speaker 1: have been a significant amount. In eighteen sixty four, that

140
00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:48,840
Speaker 1: same article suggested that wrapping and printing papers that were

141
00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:51,600
Speaker 1: made using this method would cost two or three cents

142
00:08:51,720 --> 00:08:55,160
Speaker 1: less per pound than other paper did. One of Elisha's

143
00:08:55,160 --> 00:08:59,000
Speaker 1: specialties as an attorney was patent law, and he represented

144
00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:02,840
Speaker 1: himself in legal disputes involving his patents, and since some

145
00:09:02,920 --> 00:09:06,680
Speaker 1: of his patents were financially valuable, there were several of those.

146
00:09:07,320 --> 00:09:09,760
Speaker 1: For example, one of his inventions was a device to

147
00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:13,240
Speaker 1: regulate the draft of stoves, and a dispute over this

148
00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:15,880
Speaker 1: patent led all the way to the US Supreme Court

149
00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:20,400
Speaker 1: in Silsby versus Foot. This was honestly too convoluted a

150
00:09:20,480 --> 00:09:23,280
Speaker 1: case to be summed up in an episode that is

151
00:09:23,320 --> 00:09:26,480
Speaker 1: not about Elisha or potentially even just that case, but

152
00:09:27,160 --> 00:09:31,240
Speaker 1: a similar device already existed when Foot's patent was granted.

153
00:09:31,720 --> 00:09:34,480
Speaker 1: But this case also just includes a ton of back

154
00:09:34,520 --> 00:09:37,360
Speaker 1: and forth about who had been allowed to introduce what

155
00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:40,200
Speaker 1: into evidence and how much money was owed to whom.

156
00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:43,080
Speaker 1: It was a big tangle, not really in the scope

157
00:09:43,120 --> 00:09:47,640
Speaker 1: of today's show. Yeah, when we've done Supreme Court cases

158
00:09:47,720 --> 00:09:51,760
Speaker 1: on the show before, I've usually really enjoyed reading the

159
00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:55,000
Speaker 1: text of the Supreme Court decision. But this one just

160
00:09:55,040 --> 00:09:57,400
Speaker 1: made my eyes cross. I was like, I can't what

161
00:09:57,480 --> 00:10:02,400
Speaker 1: are you even saying here. So in eighteen sixty four, though,

162
00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:06,040
Speaker 1: Elijah was appointed to the US Patent Office Board of Appeals,

163
00:10:06,400 --> 00:10:09,119
Speaker 1: and then in eighteen sixty eight he became the eleventh

164
00:10:09,160 --> 00:10:12,880
Speaker 1: Commissioner of Patents for the United States. His work at

165
00:10:12,920 --> 00:10:16,080
Speaker 1: the Patent Office would have required him to be in Washington,

166
00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:20,120
Speaker 1: d C. By this point, the foot daughters, Mary and

167
00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:23,280
Speaker 1: Augusta were grown. They were soon to be married. It's

168
00:10:23,360 --> 00:10:26,760
Speaker 1: not entirely clear whether they and Unice went with him,

169
00:10:27,360 --> 00:10:29,680
Speaker 1: but we do know that Unis did at least visit

170
00:10:30,240 --> 00:10:34,199
Speaker 1: On April sixteenth, eighteen sixty eight, Susan B. Anthony's newspaper,

171
00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:38,000
Speaker 1: The Revolution, published a piece by Elizabeth Katie Stanton which

172
00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:41,720
Speaker 1: recounted a trip to Washington, d c. It read, in part,

173
00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:45,480
Speaker 1: quote Judge Foot and his scientific wife escorted us to

174
00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:48,960
Speaker 1: the Patent Office, which, like all other departments of government,

175
00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:52,480
Speaker 1: we are told, is used for political ends. We did

176
00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:56,160
Speaker 1: not go there, however, to lay bare its corruptions and favoritisms,

177
00:10:56,440 --> 00:10:58,600
Speaker 1: but merely that we might have it in our power

178
00:10:58,640 --> 00:11:02,160
Speaker 1: to refute the assertion of the Reverend doctor Todd, trepanned

179
00:11:02,160 --> 00:11:05,600
Speaker 1: by Gail Hamilton, who, in his recent attack on his

180
00:11:05,679 --> 00:11:09,079
Speaker 1: fair countrywomen, said that there had been no inventors among

181
00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:13,000
Speaker 1: our sex. And there we found many witnesses against the

182
00:11:13,080 --> 00:11:17,760
Speaker 1: unhappy Todd. Missus Unicefoot has herself taken out several patents

183
00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:20,600
Speaker 1: and is occupied at this time making a new kind

184
00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:23,880
Speaker 1: of paper. But later Stanton went on to say, quote

185
00:11:24,240 --> 00:11:27,120
Speaker 1: Missus Foot remarked to us that she had no doubt

186
00:11:27,120 --> 00:11:30,240
Speaker 1: that half the patents there were the inventions of women.

187
00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:33,040
Speaker 1: But as men had the money to get up the

188
00:11:33,080 --> 00:11:36,560
Speaker 1: models and loved notoriety, they had been taken out in

189
00:11:36,720 --> 00:11:39,880
Speaker 1: their names. If the Reverend Todd will take the trouble

190
00:11:39,920 --> 00:11:43,360
Speaker 1: to investigate this matter for himself, he will no doubt

191
00:11:43,360 --> 00:11:48,040
Speaker 1: find this to be true. Elisha was the Commissioner of

192
00:11:48,080 --> 00:11:50,720
Speaker 1: Patents for a little less than a year until April

193
00:11:50,760 --> 00:11:53,160
Speaker 1: of eighteen sixty nine, and then he returned to his

194
00:11:53,240 --> 00:11:56,719
Speaker 1: private law practice. By the late eighteen seventies, he and

195
00:11:56,880 --> 00:11:58,920
Speaker 1: Unice had moved to Saint Louis to live with their

196
00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:03,360
Speaker 1: daughter Mary, who had married John B. Henderson. Henderson had

197
00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:06,440
Speaker 1: served as the US Senator for Missouri from eighteen sixty

198
00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:09,360
Speaker 1: two to eighteen sixty nine and was co author of

199
00:12:09,360 --> 00:12:13,360
Speaker 1: the thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, which outlawed slavery

200
00:12:13,520 --> 00:12:16,480
Speaker 1: accept as punishment for a crime. This is another one

201
00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:18,400
Speaker 1: of those moments we're not really having a lot of

202
00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:21,200
Speaker 1: personal accounts about or from her, means we don't know

203
00:12:21,240 --> 00:12:23,400
Speaker 1: a lot of what was going on behind the scenes.

204
00:12:23,800 --> 00:12:27,200
Speaker 1: So this whole stretch, you know, has happened over a

205
00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:29,480
Speaker 1: period of time that included the US Civil War, and

206
00:12:29,520 --> 00:12:33,120
Speaker 1: we just don't have a lot of information about anything

207
00:12:33,160 --> 00:12:38,000
Speaker 1: in their lives related to that. We can reasonably conclude though,

208
00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:41,360
Speaker 1: that their daughter marrying the co author of the thirteenth

209
00:12:41,400 --> 00:12:45,720
Speaker 1: Amendment to the Constitution probably means that they were all

210
00:12:46,040 --> 00:12:51,800
Speaker 1: against slavery in this context, but not something that's particularly

211
00:12:51,880 --> 00:12:55,240
Speaker 1: written down anywhere. Yeah, one would hope, But as we

212
00:12:55,360 --> 00:12:59,280
Speaker 1: know today, not everyone in a family feels the same way. Yeah,

213
00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:02,400
Speaker 1: everybody in New York or any of the other places

214
00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:04,720
Speaker 1: they live was totally aligned on that, even though the

215
00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:08,880
Speaker 1: states in question had outlawed slavery by the time the

216
00:13:08,920 --> 00:13:13,120
Speaker 1: Civil War started. Anyway. To return to the story, Elijah

217
00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:16,200
Speaker 1: died of heart disease at the Henderson home on October

218
00:13:16,240 --> 00:13:20,200
Speaker 1: twenty second, eighteen eighty three, and Eunice's life after that

219
00:13:20,280 --> 00:13:24,240
Speaker 1: point is pretty much a mystery. She died on September thirtieth,

220
00:13:24,280 --> 00:13:26,960
Speaker 1: eighteen eighty eight, in Lenox, Massachusetts, at the age of

221
00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:30,720
Speaker 1: sixty nine. Both she and Elijah were interred in the

222
00:13:30,760 --> 00:13:34,640
Speaker 1: Foot Family Mausoleum in Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.

223
00:13:35,080 --> 00:13:38,760
Speaker 1: According to a nineteen fifteen Newton family genealogy that was

224
00:13:38,800 --> 00:13:43,200
Speaker 1: compiled by ERMINA. Newton, Leonard, Eunice was quote a fine

225
00:13:43,240 --> 00:13:47,040
Speaker 1: portrait and landscape painter. She was an inventive genius and

226
00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:51,600
Speaker 1: a person of unusual beauty. No picture of Unice survives,

227
00:13:51,640 --> 00:13:53,880
Speaker 1: at least not one that has been unearthed yet, but

228
00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:56,959
Speaker 1: her science writing does, and we'll talk more about that

229
00:13:57,360 --> 00:14:10,320
Speaker 1: after a sponsor break. The American Association for the Advancement

230
00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:13,360
Speaker 1: of Science was established in Boston in eighteen forty seven,

231
00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:16,400
Speaker 1: and it held its first meeting in Philadelphia in eighteen

232
00:14:16,480 --> 00:14:20,200
Speaker 1: forty eight. The organization's purpose was to both promote and

233
00:14:20,280 --> 00:14:22,920
Speaker 1: advance science, and to that end, it had an official

234
00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:27,000
Speaker 1: membership roster, but it also arranged annual meetings that were

235
00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:29,920
Speaker 1: open to the public. In terms of its membership, in

236
00:14:29,960 --> 00:14:34,040
Speaker 1: those early years, there were no strict criteria. Anyone who

237
00:14:34,160 --> 00:14:37,720
Speaker 1: was nominated with someone else seconding the nomination was admitted

238
00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:40,760
Speaker 1: as a member. It was incredibly rare for someone to

239
00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:43,480
Speaker 1: be denied, and for the most part, once you were

240
00:14:43,520 --> 00:14:45,760
Speaker 1: a member, you were a member for life, as long

241
00:14:45,760 --> 00:14:48,840
Speaker 1: as you paid your dues. But that rule only came

242
00:14:48,880 --> 00:14:51,600
Speaker 1: into being after the organization realized that there were a

243
00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:54,200
Speaker 1: lot of people on its membership lists who were not

244
00:14:54,400 --> 00:14:58,440
Speaker 1: paying dues and weren't really active anymore. That was one

245
00:14:58,440 --> 00:15:00,560
Speaker 1: of those moments where people were looking at the membership

246
00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:04,080
Speaker 1: list like, who are these people? Are they even still alive?

247
00:15:04,280 --> 00:15:08,680
Speaker 1: Don't really know. Elishah Foote was elected to the American

248
00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:12,000
Speaker 1: Association for the Advancement of Science at its tenth meeting,

249
00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:14,840
Speaker 1: which was held in Albany, New York, in August of

250
00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:18,480
Speaker 1: eighteen fifty six, and at that meeting he also read

251
00:15:18,480 --> 00:15:20,920
Speaker 1: a paper that he had written, which was titled on

252
00:15:21,080 --> 00:15:24,240
Speaker 1: the Heat of the Sun's Rays. According to the program,

253
00:15:24,320 --> 00:15:27,400
Speaker 1: he was to read his paper on Friday, August twenty second,

254
00:15:27,800 --> 00:15:30,280
Speaker 1: but some accounts place that is happening on the twenty third.

255
00:15:31,040 --> 00:15:35,000
Speaker 1: Unice's paper is listed in the program immediately after Elishah's

256
00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:36,960
Speaker 1: with a note that it was to be read by

257
00:15:36,960 --> 00:15:41,000
Speaker 1: Professor Henry. That was Professor Joseph Henry, who was the

258
00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:45,160
Speaker 1: first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and a past president

259
00:15:45,480 --> 00:15:49,040
Speaker 1: of the Triple As. Although the program that was printed

260
00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:51,480
Speaker 1: ahead of the meeting shows both of the Foot's papers

261
00:15:51,520 --> 00:15:54,840
Speaker 1: with the same title, when Unices was printed later, it

262
00:15:54,920 --> 00:15:58,160
Speaker 1: was with the title Circumstances Affecting the Heat of the

263
00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:02,920
Speaker 1: Sun's Rays side note here. For reasons that are not

264
00:16:03,040 --> 00:16:07,000
Speaker 1: clear to me at all, neither Elisha's nor Eunice's papers

265
00:16:07,160 --> 00:16:10,160
Speaker 1: was printed in the proceedings of this eighteen fifty six

266
00:16:10,520 --> 00:16:13,960
Speaker 1: Triple As meeting, nor were they included in the list

267
00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:17,280
Speaker 1: of papers that were not being printed because their authors

268
00:16:17,440 --> 00:16:22,000
Speaker 1: hadn't turned in a copy to be printed, which delights

269
00:16:22,040 --> 00:16:24,960
Speaker 1: me that that was a list in there, and that

270
00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:28,560
Speaker 1: there were seventy six papers on it, which just feels

271
00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:32,120
Speaker 1: like a lot. It's tricky to tell how that number

272
00:16:32,160 --> 00:16:34,800
Speaker 1: of seventy six papers compares to the total number of

273
00:16:34,880 --> 00:16:37,840
Speaker 1: papers that were read, though, because in the program some

274
00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:40,480
Speaker 1: of the papers were read more than once. So I

275
00:16:40,520 --> 00:16:42,160
Speaker 1: tried to figure that out to be like, Okay, how

276
00:16:42,160 --> 00:16:43,920
Speaker 1: many people read a paper and didn't turn in a

277
00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:45,800
Speaker 1: copy of the paper, And then I was like, I'm

278
00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:48,240
Speaker 1: gonna have to print all this thing out and cross

279
00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:53,160
Speaker 1: off duplicates, and that's just not happening today. So both

280
00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:56,760
Speaker 1: these papers, though, were later printed in volume twenty two

281
00:16:56,920 --> 00:16:59,360
Speaker 1: of the American Journal of Science and Arts that was

282
00:16:59,360 --> 00:17:02,600
Speaker 1: in November of eighteen fifty six. Each of the papers

283
00:17:02,680 --> 00:17:06,360
Speaker 1: was noted as having been read at the TRIPAAS meetings.

284
00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:09,640
Speaker 1: So it's just kind of a mystery exactly what went

285
00:17:09,680 --> 00:17:14,200
Speaker 1: on in terms of the proceedings. Given their similar subject

286
00:17:14,240 --> 00:17:17,840
Speaker 1: matter and some common elements in their methods, it's likely

287
00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:21,080
Speaker 1: that Elisha and Unice collaborated with one another on their

288
00:17:21,119 --> 00:17:25,440
Speaker 1: experiments and their papers. Elisha's used a variety of setups

289
00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:28,360
Speaker 1: to compare the ambient temperature to the temperature that the

290
00:17:28,359 --> 00:17:32,160
Speaker 1: thermometer recorded when it was placed in the sun, measuring

291
00:17:32,160 --> 00:17:35,360
Speaker 1: what he called the quote relative heat of the Sun's rays,

292
00:17:35,680 --> 00:17:38,960
Speaker 1: which got stronger when the ambient temperature was hotter. He

293
00:17:39,040 --> 00:17:41,800
Speaker 1: also did the same experiment using a burning glass to

294
00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:46,199
Speaker 1: focus the sun's rays. Unice's experiment looked at how the

295
00:17:46,240 --> 00:17:51,040
Speaker 1: heat of the sun affected different gases. In her words quote,

296
00:17:51,119 --> 00:17:53,760
Speaker 1: the experiments were made with an air pump and two

297
00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:57,320
Speaker 1: cylindrical receivers of the same size, about four inches in

298
00:17:57,359 --> 00:18:00,760
Speaker 1: diameter and thirty in length in ea. Each were placed

299
00:18:00,880 --> 00:18:04,080
Speaker 1: two thermometers, and the air was exhausted from one and

300
00:18:04,119 --> 00:18:08,119
Speaker 1: condensed in the other. After both had acquired the same temperature,

301
00:18:08,240 --> 00:18:10,800
Speaker 1: they were placed in the sun side by side, and

302
00:18:10,840 --> 00:18:13,199
Speaker 1: while the action of the Sun's rays rose to one

303
00:18:13,280 --> 00:18:16,640
Speaker 1: hundred and ten degrees in the condensed tube, it attained

304
00:18:16,640 --> 00:18:20,199
Speaker 1: only eighty eight degrees in the other. She concluded in

305
00:18:20,200 --> 00:18:23,000
Speaker 1: this part of the paper that quote this circumstance must

306
00:18:23,040 --> 00:18:25,680
Speaker 1: affect the power of the Sun's raised in different places

307
00:18:26,119 --> 00:18:29,280
Speaker 1: and contribute to their feeble action on the summits of

308
00:18:29,359 --> 00:18:33,840
Speaker 1: lofty mountains. She doesn't specify what these cylinders were made of,

309
00:18:33,960 --> 00:18:38,080
Speaker 1: but they were presumably glass. Unus repeated the same experiment

310
00:18:38,200 --> 00:18:40,880
Speaker 1: using air that had been saturated with moisture in one

311
00:18:40,920 --> 00:18:44,359
Speaker 1: tube and air that had been dried with calcium chloride

312
00:18:44,359 --> 00:18:46,879
Speaker 1: in the other, and she found that when the cylinders

313
00:18:46,880 --> 00:18:48,920
Speaker 1: were placed in the sun, the air that was full

314
00:18:48,960 --> 00:18:51,560
Speaker 1: of water vapor got hotter than the dry air did.

315
00:18:52,240 --> 00:18:55,960
Speaker 1: And third, she repeated the same experiment with common air

316
00:18:56,080 --> 00:18:59,800
Speaker 1: in one tube and carbonic acid gas, which was the

317
00:18:59,840 --> 00:19:02,760
Speaker 1: tester used at the time for carbon dioxide, in the other.

318
00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:06,520
Speaker 1: She wrote, quote, the highest effect of the Sun's rays

319
00:19:06,560 --> 00:19:10,240
Speaker 1: I have found to be in carbonic acid gas. She

320
00:19:10,320 --> 00:19:13,639
Speaker 1: also noted that quote the receiver containing the gas became

321
00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:17,360
Speaker 1: itself much heated, very sensibly more so than the other,

322
00:19:17,880 --> 00:19:21,320
Speaker 1: and on being removed, it was many times as long

323
00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:26,520
Speaker 1: in cooling. Foot concluded by saying of the carbonic acid gas, quote,

324
00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:29,280
Speaker 1: an atmosphere of that gas would give to our earth

325
00:19:29,359 --> 00:19:33,359
Speaker 1: a high temperature. And if, as some suppose, at one

326
00:19:33,440 --> 00:19:35,719
Speaker 1: period of its history, the air had mixed with it

327
00:19:35,800 --> 00:19:39,400
Speaker 1: a larger proportion than at present, an increased temperature from

328
00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:42,800
Speaker 1: its own action as well as from increased weight, must

329
00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:47,440
Speaker 1: have necessarily resulted. On comparing the Sun's heat in different gases,

330
00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:50,560
Speaker 1: I found it to be in hydrogen gas one hundred

331
00:19:50,560 --> 00:19:54,760
Speaker 1: four degrees, in common air one hundred six degrees, in

332
00:19:54,880 --> 00:19:59,000
Speaker 1: oxygen gas one hundred eight degrees, and in carbonic acid

333
00:19:59,040 --> 00:20:03,280
Speaker 1: gas one h hundred and twenty five degrees. The significance

334
00:20:03,280 --> 00:20:06,359
Speaker 1: of this wasn't really understood at the time, but this

335
00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:10,200
Speaker 1: makes Unice Newton Foot the first person to connect carbon

336
00:20:10,240 --> 00:20:14,160
Speaker 1: dioxide and water vapor, which we know today as greenhouse gases,

337
00:20:14,320 --> 00:20:17,520
Speaker 1: to the Earth's climate and the possibility of a warmer planet.

338
00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:21,120
Speaker 1: There are a lot of sources that say that Unice

339
00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:24,120
Speaker 1: was prohibited from reading this paper at the Triple As

340
00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:26,920
Speaker 1: meeting because she was a woman, and that that's why

341
00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:30,200
Speaker 1: Joseph Henry read it on her behalf. And there were

342
00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:32,640
Speaker 1: definitely men in the Triple As who did not think

343
00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:37,160
Speaker 1: women belonged there, but the association did allow women as members.

344
00:20:37,520 --> 00:20:40,520
Speaker 1: The first woman to be elected was astronomer Mariah Mitchell

345
00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:45,480
Speaker 1: in eighteen fifty. Entomologist Margaretta Morris was elected that same year.

346
00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:49,199
Speaker 1: Triple As meetings were open to the public and The

347
00:20:49,240 --> 00:20:52,639
Speaker 1: Triple As had issued an open invitation for women to

348
00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:56,200
Speaker 1: attend its first meeting in eighteen forty eight, and women

349
00:20:56,280 --> 00:21:00,159
Speaker 1: frequently did attend, although again, there were certainly men in

350
00:21:00,240 --> 00:21:03,879
Speaker 1: the Triple As who considered women more like companions and

351
00:21:04,080 --> 00:21:09,119
Speaker 1: ornaments for the male membership than participants, like active participants

352
00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:12,240
Speaker 1: with knowledge and interests of their own. Unice was not

353
00:21:12,320 --> 00:21:14,880
Speaker 1: a member of the Triple As, but non members also

354
00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:18,840
Speaker 1: presented papers at every Triple As meeting between eighteen forty

355
00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:23,240
Speaker 1: eight and eighteen sixty. Strangely, Triple As records of non

356
00:21:23,280 --> 00:21:26,840
Speaker 1: member activity don't record any non members presenting in eighteen

357
00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:30,840
Speaker 1: fifty six. That may be because Joseph Henry read UNI's

358
00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:33,919
Speaker 1: paper for her, or because she was considered to be

359
00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:38,040
Speaker 1: covered under her husband's membership. That list also assumes that

360
00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:41,840
Speaker 1: non members in question are men, so it also wasn't

361
00:21:41,920 --> 00:21:45,480
Speaker 1: unheard of for people's papers to be read by someone

362
00:21:45,520 --> 00:21:49,639
Speaker 1: other than the author themselves. At that eighteen fifty six meeting,

363
00:21:49,800 --> 00:21:52,880
Speaker 1: Arthur Schott's paper on the geology of the lower Rio

364
00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:57,480
Speaker 1: Bravo was read by topographical engineer wh Emery, who was

365
00:21:57,520 --> 00:22:01,719
Speaker 1: a major in the US Army. Emory also read marine

366
00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:06,359
Speaker 1: tw chandlers on the meteorological phenomena observed at various points

367
00:22:06,359 --> 00:22:11,040
Speaker 1: on the boundary survey, and the reasons for Emory reading

368
00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:13,840
Speaker 1: these two papers and proxy for someone else that's not

369
00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:18,199
Speaker 1: really noted anywhere. So it's possible that the organizers of

370
00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:21,879
Speaker 1: the Triple As meeting in eighteen fifty six prevented Unis

371
00:22:21,920 --> 00:22:24,080
Speaker 1: from reading her own paper because she was a woman.

372
00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:27,639
Speaker 1: But if that is the case, it's just not documented anywhere,

373
00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:31,119
Speaker 1: and the ongoing involvement of women in the Triple As

374
00:22:31,160 --> 00:22:33,560
Speaker 1: at this point suggests that there may have been some

375
00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:37,679
Speaker 1: other explanation. Foot is the only woman known to have

376
00:22:37,720 --> 00:22:40,800
Speaker 1: presented a paper that year, even though it was presented

377
00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:44,520
Speaker 1: by proxy, and as a note on that proxy, Joseph

378
00:22:44,600 --> 00:22:49,520
Speaker 1: Henry was extremely prominent and well respected in the scientific community,

379
00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:52,879
Speaker 1: so it's also possible that his reading of the paper

380
00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:56,199
Speaker 1: was intended as an honor. He also seems to have

381
00:22:56,200 --> 00:22:59,000
Speaker 1: felt compelled to make some remarks on the subject of

382
00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:02,960
Speaker 1: women's roles in science, Although there's no word for word

383
00:23:03,040 --> 00:23:07,080
Speaker 1: transcript of what these remarks were anywhere. They were summarized

384
00:23:07,160 --> 00:23:10,600
Speaker 1: in an eighteen fifty seven volume that was edited by

385
00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:14,240
Speaker 1: David A. Wells and This was titled we have a

386
00:23:14,240 --> 00:23:17,840
Speaker 1: long title which everyone knows we love. Annual of Scientific

387
00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:21,359
Speaker 1: Discovery or Yearbook of Facts in Science and Art for

388
00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:26,080
Speaker 1: eighteen fifty seven, exhibiting the most important discoveries and improvements

389
00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:36,280
Speaker 1: in mechanics, useful arts, natural philosophy, chemistry, astronomy, meteorology, zoology, botany, mineralogy, geology, geography, antiquities,

390
00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:40,680
Speaker 1: et cetera, together with a list of recent scientific publications,

391
00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:45,560
Speaker 1: a classified list of patents, obituaries of eminent scientific men,

392
00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:48,600
Speaker 1: notes on the progress of science during the year eighteen

393
00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:52,679
Speaker 1: fifty six, etc. This a zippy one, just rolls off

394
00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:55,359
Speaker 1: the tongue. I got almost to the end of the

395
00:23:55,400 --> 00:23:57,800
Speaker 1: list of subjects before I had to take a breath.

396
00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:04,680
Speaker 1: Before summarizing the content of Foot's paper, Wells characterized Henry's

397
00:24:04,720 --> 00:24:08,200
Speaker 1: comments this way quote. Professor Henry then read a paper

398
00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:11,520
Speaker 1: by Missus Eunice Foot, prefacing it with a few words

399
00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:14,359
Speaker 1: to the effect that science was of no country and

400
00:24:14,440 --> 00:24:17,920
Speaker 1: of no sex. The sphere of woman embraces not only

401
00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:21,600
Speaker 1: the beautiful and the useful, but the true. If Eunice

402
00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:26,119
Speaker 1: Newton Foot was indeed prohibited from reading her own paper

403
00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:29,840
Speaker 1: in the eighteen fifty six Triple As meeting, that prohibition

404
00:24:29,920 --> 00:24:33,359
Speaker 1: seems to have been lifted the next year, eighteen fifty seven.

405
00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:36,680
Speaker 1: That year, she was scheduled to read on a new

406
00:24:36,760 --> 00:24:40,600
Speaker 1: source of electrical excitation at the annual meeting in Montreal.

407
00:24:41,119 --> 00:24:43,639
Speaker 1: According to the program, she was to present her paper

408
00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:47,440
Speaker 1: on Friday, August fourteenth, and there is no notation in

409
00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:50,080
Speaker 1: the program that would suggest that she did not read

410
00:24:50,119 --> 00:24:53,960
Speaker 1: it herself, although there's another report that suggests that she

411
00:24:54,119 --> 00:24:58,480
Speaker 1: was introduced again by Joseph Henry. This second paper documented

412
00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:00,359
Speaker 1: an experiment she had done over the cour course of

413
00:25:00,359 --> 00:25:04,399
Speaker 1: eight months, again using pumps to either condense or evacuate

414
00:25:04,480 --> 00:25:08,240
Speaker 1: air in a container. She concluded quote the compression or

415
00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:13,560
Speaker 1: expansion of atmospheric air produces an electrical excitation. There are

416
00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:17,240
Speaker 1: only two physics papers known to have been written by

417
00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:22,040
Speaker 1: women and published in American journals prior to eighteen eighty nine,

418
00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:25,880
Speaker 1: and they are these two papers by Eunice Newton Foot.

419
00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:30,680
Speaker 1: She also wrote two of the only sixteen physics papers

420
00:25:30,760 --> 00:25:33,159
Speaker 1: known who have been published by American women in the

421
00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:38,000
Speaker 1: entire nineteenth century. Also in eighteen fifty nine, after ongoing

422
00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:41,439
Speaker 1: discussion with the Triple As about women's roles in the organization.

423
00:25:42,119 --> 00:25:46,160
Speaker 1: This statement was printed in the proceedings of its thirteenth meeting, quote,

424
00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:49,439
Speaker 1: no action is necessary in regard to the motion to

425
00:25:49,520 --> 00:25:53,280
Speaker 1: admit ladies as members, inasmuch as two ladies have already

426
00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:57,160
Speaker 1: been admitted. It's not clear whether that motion that's referenced

427
00:25:57,240 --> 00:26:00,399
Speaker 1: was made and addressed before or after a name ducator

428
00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:03,879
Speaker 1: and scientist Elmira Lincoln Phelps became a member, which happened

429
00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:08,040
Speaker 1: at that meeting. Elmira Lincoln Phelps, Mariah Mitchell, and Margaretta

430
00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:10,800
Speaker 1: Morris are the only three women known to have officially

431
00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:15,200
Speaker 1: been Triple As members before eighteen sixty, although since many

432
00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:18,800
Speaker 1: people on the member list included only their initials, there

433
00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:21,920
Speaker 1: might have been others. We'll talk about how Eunice Newton

434
00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:25,879
Speaker 1: Foot's papers were received and their impact after another quick

435
00:26:25,920 --> 00:26:39,640
Speaker 1: sponsor break. After Joseph Henry read Eunice Newton Foot's paper

436
00:26:39,960 --> 00:26:42,800
Speaker 1: at the eighteen fifty six meeting of the Triple As,

437
00:26:43,040 --> 00:26:45,399
Speaker 1: it got some attention in both the United States and

438
00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:49,640
Speaker 1: Europe in both popular and scientific journals. As we said earlier,

439
00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:53,239
Speaker 1: both the Foot's papers were published in full in the

440
00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:57,400
Speaker 1: American Journal of Science and Arts and David A. Wells

441
00:26:57,440 --> 00:27:01,880
Speaker 1: Annual of Scientific Discovery paraphrase both of their papers, as

442
00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:05,600
Speaker 1: well as Henry's introductory remarks of Unice's paper. Even though

443
00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:10,000
Speaker 1: Unice's paper is much shorter than her husband's, his synopsis

444
00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:14,119
Speaker 1: of Unices a little longer than the one of her

445
00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:17,919
Speaker 1: husband's is Perhaps she was so succinct he felt he

446
00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:23,400
Speaker 1: needed to, like, really make sure people understood. The September

447
00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:27,159
Speaker 1: eighteen fifty six issue of Scientific American included an article

448
00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:33,159
Speaker 1: titled Scientific Lady's Experiments with Condensed Gases. It commented on

449
00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:36,919
Speaker 1: women's participation in science, reading in part quote, owing to

450
00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:39,680
Speaker 1: the nature of women's duties, few of them have had

451
00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:43,919
Speaker 1: the leisure or the opportunities to pursue science experimentally. But

452
00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:46,000
Speaker 1: those of them who have had the taste and the

453
00:27:46,040 --> 00:27:49,119
Speaker 1: opportunity to do so have shown as much power and

454
00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:53,399
Speaker 1: ability to investigate and observe correctly as men. This article

455
00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:57,959
Speaker 1: then described Foot's experiments and her conclusions before dipping a

456
00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:00,760
Speaker 1: toe into a debate that was going on at the

457
00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:07,000
Speaker 1: time between the plutinists and the neptunists. Briefly, plutinists argued

458
00:28:07,080 --> 00:28:10,240
Speaker 1: that the Earth had previously been molten and that rocks

459
00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:14,720
Speaker 1: were formed through volcanic activity, while neptunists argued that rocks

460
00:28:14,720 --> 00:28:18,199
Speaker 1: had formed from sediment in the oceans. Now, neither of

461
00:28:18,240 --> 00:28:21,480
Speaker 1: these two ideas was totally right, and neither one was

462
00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:27,560
Speaker 1: totally wrong. They both had some valid points and some inaccuracies,

463
00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:31,280
Speaker 1: but geologists were just divided into these two camps. The

464
00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:36,040
Speaker 1: author of this Scientific American article contended that Foot's experiments

465
00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:41,280
Speaker 1: provided quote a more rational cause for quote ancient great

466
00:28:41,320 --> 00:28:45,760
Speaker 1: atmospheric heat than the idea of the Earth having previously

467
00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:49,160
Speaker 1: been a fiery ball. This piece ended by saying, quote,

468
00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:53,280
Speaker 1: the columns of the Scientific American have been oftentimes graced

469
00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:57,440
Speaker 1: with articles on scientific subjects by ladies, which would do

470
00:28:57,520 --> 00:29:01,000
Speaker 1: honor to men of the highest scientific reputation, And the

471
00:29:01,040 --> 00:29:05,000
Speaker 1: experiments of Missus Foot afford abundant evidence of the ability

472
00:29:05,080 --> 00:29:09,440
Speaker 1: of woman to investigate any subject with originality and precision.

473
00:29:10,440 --> 00:29:14,560
Speaker 1: The October eighteen fifty six edition of United States magazine

474
00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:19,280
Speaker 1: was overall not as flattering as that was. Its article

475
00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:22,800
Speaker 1: Science and Savins in America, which was written under the

476
00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:26,880
Speaker 1: pen name Anthroposts, covered the eighteen fifty six Triple As Meeting,

477
00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:30,880
Speaker 1: noting that no women or people of color were included

478
00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:35,680
Speaker 1: in the organization's membership list. It's not clear what whoever

479
00:29:35,720 --> 00:29:38,239
Speaker 1: wrote this article was using as the list that they

480
00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:40,920
Speaker 1: were working from, because the list that was published in

481
00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:45,280
Speaker 1: the conference proceedings included both Mariah Mitchell and Margaretta Morris.

482
00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:49,120
Speaker 1: This article, though, claims that Foot and Mitchell were both

483
00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:52,840
Speaker 1: considered to be members, while not mentioning Morris at all.

484
00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:58,000
Speaker 1: This article mentions Henry reading Foot's paper and quote apologizing

485
00:29:58,120 --> 00:30:00,600
Speaker 1: as he did so for the lady, who, he said,

486
00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:04,720
Speaker 1: although thus devoting her time to science, had a feminine heart.

487
00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:08,960
Speaker 1: We protest against such apologies and feel that it is

488
00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:12,240
Speaker 1: the opposite fact that so few of our countrywomen can

489
00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:15,200
Speaker 1: be found who give any attention to science as amateurs.

490
00:30:15,600 --> 00:30:20,040
Speaker 1: Pardon the solicism or investigators. It is this fact that

491
00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:24,240
Speaker 1: needs either explanation or apology. This goes on to describe

492
00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:27,960
Speaker 1: quote ladies of perfect breeding and finish gracing by their

493
00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:31,200
Speaker 1: presence the chambers in which the sessions were held and

494
00:30:31,280 --> 00:30:35,680
Speaker 1: listening intently to the enunciation of abstruse principles in mathematical

495
00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:39,880
Speaker 1: and physical science. This sort of sounds like it could

496
00:30:39,880 --> 00:30:43,520
Speaker 1: be leading into a discussion of the barriers to women's

497
00:30:43,520 --> 00:30:47,000
Speaker 1: participation in science. But it does not do that. Instead

498
00:30:47,040 --> 00:30:51,240
Speaker 1: it becomes insulting, saying, quote, we could not help asking ourselves,

499
00:30:51,360 --> 00:30:53,479
Speaker 1: why does it not occur to this portion of our

500
00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:57,280
Speaker 1: race that they have faculties of observation and reason as

501
00:30:57,360 --> 00:31:00,880
Speaker 1: well as we, And that instead of displaying the last

502
00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:04,120
Speaker 1: new bonnet and their richest lace on the side seats,

503
00:31:04,440 --> 00:31:08,400
Speaker 1: or perhaps whispering and tittering over some trifling, ludicrous incident

504
00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:11,840
Speaker 1: in the proceedings, it is their prerogative, not less than

505
00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:14,560
Speaker 1: that of man, to bring upon the tapists before a

506
00:31:14,640 --> 00:31:19,120
Speaker 1: scientific body, the results of their investigations, discoveries and deductions

507
00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:22,320
Speaker 1: in the common world of matter and mind, which, with

508
00:31:22,520 --> 00:31:28,000
Speaker 1: them we jointly inhabit. It started so good and then

509
00:31:28,040 --> 00:31:32,160
Speaker 1: it lands Why are you so dingy? Women? I really thought.

510
00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:34,280
Speaker 1: As I started reading it, I was like, ah, man,

511
00:31:34,360 --> 00:31:37,360
Speaker 1: I really think this is gonna be talking a lot about,

512
00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:40,640
Speaker 1: like why there weren't women and people of color and

513
00:31:40,680 --> 00:31:44,240
Speaker 1: involved in this mort No, it just became a bunch

514
00:31:44,280 --> 00:31:49,560
Speaker 1: of sexist insils. Nice. A summary of the eighteen fifty

515
00:31:49,600 --> 00:31:52,320
Speaker 1: six meetings of the British and American Associations of the

516
00:31:52,360 --> 00:31:56,160
Speaker 1: Advancement of Science was published in the Canadian Journal of Industry,

517
00:31:56,200 --> 00:32:00,160
Speaker 1: Science and Art. It summarizes Unus's paper, but makes there's

518
00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:04,040
Speaker 1: no mention of her husband's. The Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal

519
00:32:04,040 --> 00:32:07,960
Speaker 1: for eighteen fifty seven summarizes Unus's paper as well, but

520
00:32:08,040 --> 00:32:11,360
Speaker 1: since it also mentions Elisha's work, it's a little unclear

521
00:32:11,400 --> 00:32:14,160
Speaker 1: which of them the journal is attributing the experiment to.

522
00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:18,200
Speaker 1: The German journal Yadiz Beicht printed a summary of it

523
00:32:18,240 --> 00:32:21,160
Speaker 1: as well, which was dated eighteen fifty six, although that

524
00:32:21,240 --> 00:32:25,280
Speaker 1: actually came out in eighteen fifty seven. Then, on May eighteenth,

525
00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:30,080
Speaker 1: eighteen fifty nine, Irish physicist John Tendall made a similar

526
00:32:30,320 --> 00:32:33,840
Speaker 1: observation to Eunice Newton Foots about the ability of water,

527
00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:38,120
Speaker 1: vapor and carbon dioxide gas to hold heat. He reported

528
00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:41,239
Speaker 1: this observation to the Royal Society of London later that

529
00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:45,320
Speaker 1: same year, and in his work he credited French physicist

530
00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:49,880
Speaker 1: Claude Medias Poulet for having done earlier related work. And

531
00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:54,480
Speaker 1: there's been some discussion about whether Tendall knew about Eunice

532
00:32:54,520 --> 00:32:57,920
Speaker 1: Newton Foot's work and disregarded it because of her sex.

533
00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:02,080
Speaker 1: Roland Jackson, who was publishing in the Royal Society Journal

534
00:33:02,120 --> 00:33:05,080
Speaker 1: of the History of Science in twenty nineteen argues that

535
00:33:05,160 --> 00:33:09,760
Speaker 1: he probably did not. That this omission is more about

536
00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:13,160
Speaker 1: the state of scientific communication across the Atlantic in the

537
00:33:13,200 --> 00:33:17,560
Speaker 1: mid nineteenth century. He speculates that Tendall just wouldn't have

538
00:33:17,600 --> 00:33:20,320
Speaker 1: been likely to have read any of the journals or

539
00:33:20,360 --> 00:33:24,600
Speaker 1: other publications that referenced Foot's work prior to his own observations.

540
00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:29,360
Speaker 1: Tyndall's experimental setup was more sophisticated than Foots was, but

541
00:33:29,480 --> 00:33:32,040
Speaker 1: unlike her, he did not make the connection between these

542
00:33:32,080 --> 00:33:34,920
Speaker 1: gases and the Earth's climate until later in his work.

543
00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:38,240
Speaker 1: In eighteen sixty one, he did some research that showed

544
00:33:38,240 --> 00:33:42,800
Speaker 1: that carbon dioxide, water vapor, and hydrocarbon gases like methane

545
00:33:42,960 --> 00:33:46,520
Speaker 1: absorbed more radiant energy than nitrogen and oxygen, which are

546
00:33:46,520 --> 00:33:50,520
Speaker 1: the primary components of air. That's really when he started

547
00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:54,200
Speaker 1: to speculate that different concentrations of these gases can affect

548
00:33:54,200 --> 00:33:58,000
Speaker 1: the Earth's climate. The first paper to really quantify the

549
00:33:58,040 --> 00:34:02,560
Speaker 1: carbon dioxide concentrations involved in the greenhouse gas effect was

550
00:34:02,600 --> 00:34:06,840
Speaker 1: published by Swedish scientists Vante august arian Has in eighteen

551
00:34:06,920 --> 00:34:10,840
Speaker 1: ninety six. His later work also suggests that the burning

552
00:34:10,880 --> 00:34:15,480
Speaker 1: of fossil fuels contributes to this process. About ten years

553
00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:18,680
Speaker 1: after Tyndall published his work on this, he and Joseph

554
00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:22,239
Speaker 1: Henry became acquainted, but there's no suggestion that the two

555
00:34:22,239 --> 00:34:24,440
Speaker 1: of them ever talked about Foot's work and how it

556
00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:28,560
Speaker 1: related to Tindall's. However, there were other people who cited

557
00:34:28,600 --> 00:34:31,560
Speaker 1: Eunice Newton Foot's work later on in the nineteenth century.

558
00:34:32,200 --> 00:34:36,080
Speaker 1: For example, Ethan Samuel Chapin's eighteen eighty eight book Gravitation

559
00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:40,399
Speaker 1: The Determining Force references Henry's reading of Foots paper at

560
00:34:40,400 --> 00:34:44,080
Speaker 1: the Triple As in a section on conditions likely to

561
00:34:44,160 --> 00:34:47,759
Speaker 1: affect the temperature of the Moon's surface. This section of

562
00:34:47,800 --> 00:34:50,840
Speaker 1: the book discusses matter on the Moon and how different

563
00:34:50,880 --> 00:34:55,320
Speaker 1: densities of that matter must have different capabilities for retaining heat.

564
00:34:56,040 --> 00:34:58,280
Speaker 1: This is interesting to me because it suggests not only

565
00:34:58,320 --> 00:35:01,839
Speaker 1: that people were familiar with what she had written about,

566
00:35:01,840 --> 00:35:03,759
Speaker 1: but that they thought it was important enough to also

567
00:35:03,800 --> 00:35:07,720
Speaker 1: apply it to other situations than what she was directly

568
00:35:07,760 --> 00:35:12,880
Speaker 1: experimenting on. Today, John Tendall, not Eunice Newtonfoot, is often

569
00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:15,719
Speaker 1: known as the founder of climate science, but over the

570
00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:19,520
Speaker 1: last decade people have been trying to correct that attribution.

571
00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:24,480
Speaker 1: This effort really started in twenty eleven, when Raymond Sorensen

572
00:35:24,560 --> 00:35:28,280
Speaker 1: published Unice Foots pioneering research on CO two and Climate

573
00:35:28,320 --> 00:35:32,239
Speaker 1: warming that was published in the American Association of Petroleum

574
00:35:32,280 --> 00:35:37,800
Speaker 1: Geologist Search and Discovery. Sorenson had stumbled across that summary

575
00:35:37,840 --> 00:35:40,520
Speaker 1: of Foot's paper that was in the eighteen fifty seven

576
00:35:40,600 --> 00:35:44,919
Speaker 1: Annual of Scientific Discovery and had realized its significance. There

577
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:49,040
Speaker 1: was even less publicly available information about Eunice Newtonfoot in

578
00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:52,280
Speaker 1: twenty eleven than there is today. Not even the text

579
00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:55,640
Speaker 1: of her paper had been unearthed at that point. Sorenson

580
00:35:55,719 --> 00:35:58,440
Speaker 1: updated his paper in twenty eighteen to note that a

581
00:35:58,520 --> 00:36:01,560
Speaker 1: copy of her paper had been found in the Saratoga

582
00:36:01,600 --> 00:36:05,879
Speaker 1: Springs City Historians files in Saratoga Springs, New York, and

583
00:36:05,920 --> 00:36:08,279
Speaker 1: that copy matched the one that was printed in the

584
00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:12,840
Speaker 1: American Journal of Science and Arts. This update also clarified

585
00:36:12,880 --> 00:36:16,000
Speaker 1: that it was Foot herself who made the connection between

586
00:36:16,040 --> 00:36:20,600
Speaker 1: carbon dioxide gas and the Earth's climate and the climate

587
00:36:20,640 --> 00:36:24,440
Speaker 1: having been maybe previously warmer prior to the discovery of

588
00:36:24,440 --> 00:36:27,360
Speaker 1: her original paper, though it had not been clear whether

589
00:36:27,440 --> 00:36:30,239
Speaker 1: she had made that connection herself or whether it was

590
00:36:30,280 --> 00:36:33,239
Speaker 1: something David a Wells had speculated on when he was

591
00:36:33,480 --> 00:36:36,760
Speaker 1: writing up that little summary of it. However, we should

592
00:36:36,840 --> 00:36:40,000
Speaker 1: note that claims that Eunice Newton Foot was totally forgotten

593
00:36:40,080 --> 00:36:43,560
Speaker 1: until Raymond Sorenson published his twenty eleven paper are not

594
00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:47,280
Speaker 1: really accurate. Sorenson does seem to have been the first

595
00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:50,120
Speaker 1: person to directly point out that Foot was the first

596
00:36:50,120 --> 00:36:53,360
Speaker 1: person to observe something that Tyndall got the credit for,

597
00:36:54,200 --> 00:36:58,040
Speaker 1: but Sally Gregory Colstead's The Formation of the American Scientific

598
00:36:58,080 --> 00:37:02,200
Speaker 1: Community the American Association for the Advancement of Science eighteen

599
00:37:02,239 --> 00:37:05,800
Speaker 1: forty eight to eighteen sixty was published by the University

600
00:37:05,800 --> 00:37:09,680
Speaker 1: of Illinois Press in nineteen seventy six, and it mentions

601
00:37:09,719 --> 00:37:14,160
Speaker 1: Foot delivering her paper on electrical excitation in eighteen fifty seven.

602
00:37:14,800 --> 00:37:18,160
Speaker 1: In addition to that information on Foot that's found at

603
00:37:18,200 --> 00:37:21,640
Speaker 1: ancestry dot com also includes a scan of a nineteen

604
00:37:21,719 --> 00:37:25,719
Speaker 1: seventy six letter from Deborah Dean Warner, who was then

605
00:37:25,880 --> 00:37:29,359
Speaker 1: Curator of the History of Physical Sciences at the Smithsonian,

606
00:37:29,800 --> 00:37:33,120
Speaker 1: to doctor Judith Wellman at State University of New York.

607
00:37:33,800 --> 00:37:37,240
Speaker 1: Warner and Wellman had talked about Foot at the National

608
00:37:37,360 --> 00:37:40,719
Speaker 1: Archives Conference on Women's History. According to this letter, and

609
00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:44,200
Speaker 1: the letter mentions both of Foot's papers and their titles.

610
00:37:44,960 --> 00:37:49,560
Speaker 1: Warner's Science Education for Women in Antebellum America, published in

611
00:37:49,600 --> 00:37:52,200
Speaker 1: the journal Isis, a Journal of the History of Science

612
00:37:52,200 --> 00:37:56,520
Speaker 1: Society in nineteen seventy eight, also cites both of Foot's papers.

613
00:37:57,400 --> 00:38:00,759
Speaker 1: Wellman's The Road to Seneca Falls elizabethaid Haitie Stanton in

614
00:38:00,800 --> 00:38:03,399
Speaker 1: the First Women's Rights Convention, which was published in two

615
00:38:03,400 --> 00:38:07,000
Speaker 1: thousand and four, also mentions both paper's existence but not

616
00:38:07,080 --> 00:38:11,920
Speaker 1: their subjects. And Lois Arnold's Four Lives in Science Women's

617
00:38:12,040 --> 00:38:14,680
Speaker 1: Education in the Nineteenth Century, which was published in nineteen

618
00:38:14,760 --> 00:38:18,279
Speaker 1: eighty four, mentions Foot's article on the heat from the

619
00:38:18,320 --> 00:38:22,600
Speaker 1: Sun's rays, using the eighteen fifty six Scientific American article

620
00:38:22,680 --> 00:38:26,480
Speaker 1: as its source on that. So there were various folks

621
00:38:26,520 --> 00:38:30,000
Speaker 1: who were definitely talking about Eunice Newtonfoot and other contexts

622
00:38:30,480 --> 00:38:33,360
Speaker 1: before that twenty eleven Weever came out. There's also a

623
00:38:33,400 --> 00:38:36,239
Speaker 1: short film on Unice Newton Foot called Unice and that

624
00:38:36,360 --> 00:38:39,320
Speaker 1: was released in twenty eighteen and it is available on YouTube.

625
00:38:40,239 --> 00:38:47,840
Speaker 1: That's a Unice Newton Foot. Thanks so much for joining

626
00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:50,520
Speaker 1: us on this Saturday. If you'd like to send us

627
00:38:50,520 --> 00:38:54,640
Speaker 1: a note our email addresses, History Podcast at iHeartRadio dot

628
00:38:54,680 --> 00:38:57,400
Speaker 1: com and you can subscribe to the show on the

629
00:38:57,400 --> 00:39:00,719
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or were where you listened to

630
00:39:00,760 --> 00:39:08,320
Speaker 1: your favorite shows. MHM