That's not correct, unless you mean to say we discovered nuclear energy in the 1880s: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2382758-eunice-newton-f...
* 1824 - effect proposed (Joseph Fourier)
* 1827/1838 - further evidence (Claude Pouillet)
* 1856 - Speculation that a high vapor atmosphere would give a warm planet (Eunice Newton Foote)
* 1859 - Demonstration that hydrocarbons had a significant effect (John Tyndall)
* 1896 - Quantification of the effect and prediction of global warming (Svante Arrhenius)
* 1901 - Greenhouse name used (Nils Gustaf Ekholm)
The greenhouse effect in itself is critically important in maintaining a liveable temperature on Earth. It's a runaway greenhouse effect causing global warming that is the problem. Anything before 1896 was about understand the basic effect, while after we began understanding that we were affecting the system by emitting gases.