Climate and Astronomical Cycles

Abstract

The scientific notion that climate could evolve over time first appeared along with the birth of paleoclimatology in the nineteenth century when the existence of ice ages was discovered. Although the scientists of the time were aware that the Earth had undergone many upheavals, notably through the successions of various animal and vegetable fossil species, it was only when evidence of previous glacial periods emerged that the idea of a changing climate really took shape.