Tyndall, John

Tyndall, John

▪ British physicist
born August 2, 1820, Leighlinbridge, County Carlow, Ireland
died December 4, 1893, Hindhead, Surrey, England
 British experimental physicist who was an avid promoter of science in the Victorian era.

      Tyndall was born into a poor Protestant Irish family. After a thorough basic education he worked as a surveyor in Ireland and England (1839–47). When his ambitions turned from engineering to science, Tyndall spent his savings on gaining a Ph.D. from the University of Marburg, Germany (1848–50), but then struggled to find employment.

      In 1853 Tyndall was appointed professor of natural philosophy at the Royal Institution, London. There he became a friend of the much-admired physicist and chemist Michael Faraday (Faraday, Michael), entertained and instructed fashionable audiences with brilliant lecture demonstrations (rivaling the biologist T.H. Huxley (Huxley, T.H.) in his popular reputation), and pursued his research. An outstanding experimenter, particularly in atmospheric physics, Tyndall examined the transmission of both radiant heat and light through various gases and vapours. He discovered that water vapour absorbs much more radiant heat than the gases of the atmosphere and argued the consequent importance of atmospheric water vapour in moderating the Earth's climate—that is, in the natural greenhouse effect. Tyndall also studied the diffusion of light by large molecules and dust, known as the Tyndall effect, and he performed experiments demonstrating that the sky's blue colour results from the scattering of the Sun's rays by molecules in the atmosphere.

      Tyndall was passionate and sensitive, quick to feel personal slights and to defend underdogs. Physically tough, he was a daring mountaineer. His greatest fame came from his activities as an advocate and interpreter of science. Tyndall, in collaboration with his scientific friends in the small, private X Club, urged greater recognition of both the intellectual authority and practical benefits of science. He was accused of materialism and atheism after his presidential address at the 1874 meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, when he claimed that cosmological theory belonged to science rather than theology and that matter had the power within itself to produce life. In the ensuing notoriety over this “Belfast Address,” Tyndall's allusions to the limitations of science and to mysteries beyond human understanding were overlooked. Tyndall engaged in a number of other controversies—for example, over spontaneous generation, the efficacy of prayer, and Home Rule for Ireland.

Additional Reading
A book-length biography, A.S. Eve and C.H. Creasey, Life and Work of John Tyndall (1945), makes use of material collected and drafted by Tyndall's wife, Louisa Tyndall. Complementing it is a collection of essays, W.H. Brock, N.D. McMillan, and R.C. Mollan (eds.), John Tyndall: Essays on a Natural Philosopher (1981), which covers all aspects of Tyndall's life and work. Ruth Barton, “John Tyndall, Pantheist: A Rereading of the Belfast Address,” Osiris, 2nd series, 3:111–134 (1987), reinterprets Tyndall's reputation as a materialist.Ruth Barton

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Tyndall , John — (1820–1893) British physicist Tyndall was born at Carlow (now in the Republic of Ireland) and after leaving school began work as a draftsman and civil engineer in the Irish Ordnance Survey. He later became a railway engineer for a Manchester firm …   Scientists

  • Tyndall,John — Tyn·dall (tĭnʹdl), John. 1820 1893. Irish born British physicist known for his work on the transparency of gases and the absorption by gases of radiant heat. * * * …   Universalium

  • Tyndall, John Hutchyns — ▪ 2006       British political activist (b. July 14, 1934, Exeter, Eng. d. July 19, 2005, Hove, East Sussex, Eng.), was a leading figure throughout his life in Britain s far right political fringe, notably as cofounder (1962) of the fascist… …   Universalium

  • Tyndall, John — ► (1820 93) Físico y matemático británico. Investigó sobre el diamagnetismo, la polarización y las propiedades magnetoeléctricas de los cristales …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Tyndall, John — (1820 1893)    Scientific writer, b. at Leighlin Bridge, County Carlow, was in early life employed in the ordnance survey and as a railway engineer. He was next teacher of mathematics and surveying at Queenwood Coll., Hampshire, after which he… …   Short biographical dictionary of English literature

  • Tyndall — Tyndall, John …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • John Tyndall — John Tyndall, Lithographie von Rudolf Hoffmann, 1859 Fotografie von John Tyndall (rechts) …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • John Tyndall — John Tyndall. John Tyndall (Leighlinbridge (condado de Carlow), Irlanda, 2 de agosto de 1820 4 de diciembre de 1893). Fue un físico irlandés, conocido por su estudio sobre los coloides. Investigó el llamado efecto Tyndall, al cual se le llamó así …   Wikipedia Español

  • Tyndall effect — [tin′dəl] n. 〚after John Tyndall (1820 93), Brit physicist〛 Physics the scattering and polarization of a light beam by colloidal particles in a dispersed system * * * ▪ physics also called  Tyndall phenomenon        scattering of a beam of light… …   Universalium

  • TYNDALL (J.) — TYNDALL JOHN (1820 1893) Physicien irlandais, né à Leighlin Bridge (comté de Carlow) et mort à Hindhead (Surrey). Tyndall a déjà travaillé comme ingénieur lorsqu’il part étudier, avec Bunsen, à Marburg, où il obtient son doctorat (1850). De… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”