by Maili Pieragostini  Who was the first to recognize that anthropogenic activity could cause global warming? Many might say Joseph Fourier, who was the first to theorize through mathematical calculations that Earth’s atmosphere insulates the planet. Others might say John Tyndall, the 19th-century physicist whose name became synonymous with the science of heat and gases. But there is another scientist, a woman whose name was nearly lost to history. Eunice Newton Foote, the first to experimentally demonstrate that certain gases trap heat from the sun.  Eunice Newton Foote was a scientist, inventor, and early advocate for women’s rights. In 1856, at a time when women were excluded from most scientific institutions, Foote conducted a groundbreaking experiment in her home laboratory. Her goal was simple yet profound: to understand how different gases respond to sunlight. Using glass cylinders, thermometers, and an air pump, Foote tested how gases like carbon dioxide and ordinary a...