History of Understanding of the Human Impact on Climate

人类活动可能引起的全球气候变化是一个具有重大科学意义的问题，也对世界经济和社会秩序产生严重影响。对这一主题的研究始于19世纪中叶，并断断续续地持续了100年。20世纪50年代初，人类活动对全球气候的影响得到了持续的科学调查。此外，这项科学研究越来越受到公众的关注。到20世纪80年代末，当政策制定者开始感兴趣时，已经有了一段漫长而丰富的研究、成就和争议的历史。这段历史从未被系统地研究过，而且在很大程度上是未知的。沃特博士正在确定人类对气候影响研究历史的主要特征。他还在研究这项科学工作与公众对这一问题的理解之间的关系。这项研究的目的不仅是在历史和科学期刊上发表结果，而且是保存记录该主题的材料，以供未来的研究人员使用，这些材料现在已经分散，容易被破坏。该项目有望对全球环境变化的人类层面的社会科学研究和科学技术史作出重大贡献。因此，该项目得到了社会经济学部和科学史与哲学项目的支持。

The possible changes in global climate caused by human activities are a matter of great scientific interest and also have grave implications for the world economy and social order. Study of the subject began in the mid-nineteenth century and continued intermittently for the next hundred years. In the early 1950s, the impact of human activity on global climate came under sustained scientific investigation. Further, this scientific study increasingly reached the eye of the public. By the late 1980s, when policy makers began to take an interest, there was a long and rich history of research, achievement, and controversy. This history has never been studied systematically and is largely unknown. Dr. Weart is determining the main features of the history of research into human impact on climate. He is also studying how this scientific work has related to public understanding of the problem. This study aims not only for publication of results in historical and scientific journals, but also at preservation--for use of future researchers--of materials documenting the subject-- materials now dispersed and liable to destruction. This project promises significant contributions both to the social scientific study of human dimensions of global environmental change and to the history of science and technology. Consequently, this project is being supported by the Division of Social and Economic Sciences and the History and Philosophy of Science Program.