Charles David Keeling (April 20, 1928 – June 20, 2005)[1][2] was an American scientist whose recording of carbon dioxide at the Mauna Loa Observatory[3] confirmed Svante Arrhenius's proposition (1896) of the possibility of anthropogenic contribution to the greenhouse effect and global warming, by documenting the steadily rising carbon dioxide levels.

His father, an investment banker, excited interests of astronomy in a 5-year-old Charles, while his mother instilled a lifelong love of music.

Most of Dole's graduates were going straight into the oil industry; Keeling "had trouble seeing the future this way" and had become interested in geology, for which he had acquired most of the undergraduate coursework during his PhD.

[5] Keeling camped at Big Sur where he used his new device to measure the level of carbon dioxide and found that it had risen since the 19th century.

[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] Roger Revelle, the director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, based at La Jolla, California, persuaded Keeling to continue his work there.

A reduction in carbon dioxide followed during spring and early summer each year as plant growth increased in the land-rich northern hemisphere.

A 1965 report from President Johnson's Science Advisory Committee similarly warned of the dangers of extra heat-trapping gases, which cause the temperature of the Earth to rise.