History
This term was coined by Caltech scientist Andrew Ingersoll in a paper that described a model of the atmosphere of Venus. Water vapor initially in the atmosphere of Venus absorbed outgoing radiation which caused the planet to heat and increased water vapor. High abundance of water vapor in the atmosphere allowed it to be photodissociated, with lighter hydrogen gas escaping to space and oxygen reacting with surface rocks. This model is supported by the deuterium/hydrogen ratio on Venus which is 150 times greater than the D/H ratio on Earth.
Read more about this topic: Runaway Greenhouse Effect
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Postmodernism is, almost by definition, a transitional cusp of social, cultural, economic and ideological history when modernism’s high-minded principles and preoccupations have ceased to function, but before they have been replaced with a totally new system of values. It represents a moment of suspension before the batteries are recharged for the new millennium, an acknowledgment that preceding the future is a strange and hybrid interregnum that might be called the last gasp of the past.”
—Gilbert Adair, British author, critic. Sunday Times: Books (London, April 21, 1991)
“A people without history
Is not redeemed from time, for history is a pattern
Of timeless moments.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“Man watches his history on the screen with apathy and an occasional passing flicker of horror or indignation.”
—Conor Cruise O’Brien (b. 1917)