THE ROLE OF HENRY WARD IN THE UNDERSTANDING OF GLOBAL CLIMATE IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY

The possible effects of climate change in the future are predictable through an understanding of Earth’s past climate. Foraminifera, small, shelled organisms, are widely used bioindicators of past climate because of their ubiquity in aquatic environments. They have existed millions of years, leaving behind a long-term record of changing ocean chemistry, which relates to environmental change. Today, Foraminifera are analyzed by high resolution computerized techniques, but early researchers could only study Foraminifera by low-powered microscopy or with enlarged, accurate hand-carved models. In the 19^th century, a major supplier and obtainer of these models was Henry Augustus Ward of the University of Rochester. His business, now Ward Science, bought and sold scientific specimens and continues to do such throughout the world. Here we discuss Ward’s direct influence on the international understanding of foraminifera and indirectly, on our early understanding of global environmental change.