There on August 8, 1975 it was not possible to ascertain how many readers had turned to the new one article in the magazine   Science from a geochemist Wallace Broecker from Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Almost half a century ago, it was barely possible to track clicks or likes, so Broecker simply had to hope his message got through. It was urgent, expressed directly in its headline: “Climate Change: Are We on the Verge of Significant Global Warming? According to NASA the headline first appeared in print with the term "global warming". Although Broecker, who died in 2019 after devoting decades to studying and writing about climate change, might have hoped for more from his landmark paper, there was barely a whisper from the press or the public: A full-text database and search engine LexisNexis  she discovered only two uses of "global warming" in the five years that followed the piece Science – both in the magazine The Economist , during the tumultuous summer of 1977, when a heat wave led to 24-hour blackout in New York City , which led to 3,700 arrests, damage to 1,600 stores, and at least 1,000 fires. (JEFFREY KLUGER )