Whose work first explained the greenhouse effect?

French mathematician and physicist Joseph Fourier is credited with the first clear scientific explanation of how the atmosphere helps warm Earth. In 1824, he argued that the planet should be colder than it is if it simply radiated heat into space, which implied an insulating effect from the air. Later scientists such as John Tyndall and Svante Arrhenius measured the role of gases like water vapor and carbon dioxide in more detail. Fourier’s idea became one of the foundations of modern climate science.