Fourier's consideration of the possibility that the Earth's atmosphere might act as an insulator of some kind is widely recognized as the first proposal of what is now known as the greenhouse effect, although Fourier never called it that.

In his articles, Fourier referred to an experiment by Horace Bénédict de Saussure, who lined a vase with blackened cork. Into the cork, he inserted several panes of transparent glass, separated