Charles David Keeling

Charles David Keeling began measuring carbon dioxide at Mauna Loa in Hawaii in 1958 for the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, insisting on precise, continuous calibration when funders doubted the value of repeating the same measurement. Within a few years the record showed both the seasonal breathing of plants and a steady rise. Since his death in 2005 his son Ralph Keeling has continued the Scripps record, alongside parallel measurements by the US agency NOAA.