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TYNDALL, JOHN (182o-1893)

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 500 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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TYNDALL, See also:JOHN (182o-1893) , See also:British natural philosopher, was See also:born in Co. See also:Carlow, See also:Ireland, on the 2nd of See also:August 182o, his See also:father being the son of a small landowner in poor circumstances, but a See also:man of more than See also:ordinary ability: With See also:Darwin and See also:Huxley his name is inseparably connected with the See also:battle which began in the See also:middle of the 19th See also:century for making the new standpoint of See also:modern See also:science See also:part of the accepted See also:philosophy in See also:general See also:life. For many years, indeed, he came to represent to ordinary Englishmen the typical or ideal See also:professor of physics. His strong, picturesque mode of seizing and expressing things gave him an immense living See also:influence both in speech and See also:writing, and disseminated a popular knowledge of See also:physical science such as had not previously existed. But besides being a true educator, and perhaps the greatest popular teacher of natural philosophy in his See also:generation, he was an See also:earnest and See also:original observer and explorer of nature. Tyndall was to a large extent a self-made man; he had no See also:early advantages, but with indomitable earnestness devoted him-self to study, to which he was stimulated by the writings of See also:Carlyle. He passed from a See also:national school in ,Co. Carlow to a See also:minor See also:post (1839) in the Irish See also:ordnance survey, thence (1842) to the See also:English survey, attending See also:mechanics' See also:institute lectures at See also:Preston in See also:Lancashire. He then became for a See also:time (1844) a railway engineer, and in 1847 a teacher at Queenwood See also:College, Hants. Thence with much spirit, and in See also:face of many difficulties, he betook himself, with his colleague See also:Edward See also:Frankland, to the university of See also:Marburg (1848-1851), where, by intense application, he obtained his doctorate in two years. His inaugural dissertation was an See also:essay on See also:screw-surfaces. Tyndall's first original See also:work in physical science was in his experiments with regard to See also:magnetism and diamagnetic See also:polarity, on which he was chiefly occupied from 185o to 1855.

While he was still lecturing on natural philosophy at Queenwood College, his magnetic investigations made him known in the higher circles of the scientific See also:

world, and through the initiative of See also:Sir E. See also:Sabine, treasurer of the Royal Society, he was elected F.R.S. in See also:June 1852. In 185o he had made See also:Faraday's acquaintance, and shortly before the See also:Ipswich See also:meeting of the British Association in 1851 he began a lasting friendship with T. H. Huxley. The two See also:young men stood for chairs of physics and natural See also:history respectively, first at See also:Toronto, next at See also:Sydney, but they were in each See also:case unsuccessful. On the 11th of See also:February 1853, however, Tyndall gave, by invitation, a See also:Friday evening lecture (on " The Influence of Material See also:Aggregation upon the Manifestations of Force ") at the Royal Institution, and his public reputation was at once established. In the following May he was chosen professor of natural philosophy at the Royal Institution, a post which exactly suited his striking gifts and made him a colleague of Faraday, whom in 1866 he succeeded as scientific adviser to the Trinity See also:House and See also:Board of See also:Trade, and in 1867 as See also:superintendent of the Royal Institution. His reverent See also:attachment to Faraday is beautifully manifested in his memorial See also:volume called Faraday as a Discoverer (1868). The more original contributions which Tyndall made to science are dealt with elsewhere, in the articles concerned with the various subjects (see See also:HEAT, &c.). But his inquiries into See also:glacier See also:motion were notable alike for his association with Switzer-See also:land and for prolonged controversy with other men of science on the subject. In 1854; after 'the meeting of the British Association in See also:Liverpool, a memorable visit occurred to the See also:Penrhyn See also:slate quarries, where the question of slaty cleavage arose in his mind, and ultimately led him, with Huxley, to See also:Switzerland to study the phenomena of glaciers.

Here the mountains seized him, and he became a See also:

constant visitor and one of the most intrepid and most resolute of explorers; among other feats of climbing he was the first to ascend the See also:Weiss-See also:horn (1861). The strong, vigorous, healthfulness and enjoyment which permeate the See also:record of his Alpine work arc magnificent, and traces of his influence remain in Switzerland to this See also:day. The problem of the flow of glaciers occupied his See also:attention fot years, and his views brought him into acute conflict with others, particularly J. D. See also:Forbes and See also:James See also:Thomson. Every one knew that glaciers moved, but the questions were how they moved, for what See also:reason and by what mechanism. Some thought they slid like solids; others that they flowed like liquids; others that they crawled by alternate expansion and contraction, or by alternate freezing and melting; others, again, that they See also:broke and mended. Thus there arose a See also:chaos of controversy, illuminated by definite measurements and observations. Tyndall's own See also:summary of the course of See also:research on the subject was as follows: The See also:idea of semi-fluid motion belongs entirely to Rendu ; the See also:proof of the quicker central flow belongs in part to Rendu, but almost wholly to See also:Agassiz and Forbes; the proof of the retardation of the See also:bed belongs to Forbes alone; while the See also:discovery of the See also:locus of the point of maximum motion belongs, I suppose, to me. But while Forbes asserted that See also:ice was viscous, Tyndall denied it, and insisted, as the result of his observations, on the flow being due to fracture and regelation. All agreed that ice flowed as if it were a viscous fluid; and of this apparent viscosity James Thomson offered an See also:independent explanation by the application of pure thermodynamical theory, which Tyndall considered inefficient to See also:account for the facts he observed. It is unnecessary here to See also:rake among the ashes of this prolonged dispute, but it may be noted that See also:Helmholtz, who, in his lecture on " Ice and Glaciers," adopted Thomson's theory, afterwards added in an appendix that he had come to the conclusion that Tyndall had " assigned the essential and See also:principal cause of glacier motion in referring it to fracture and regelation " (1865).

Tyndall's investigations of the transparency and opacity of gases and vapours for radiant heat, which occupied him during many years (1859-1871), are frequently considered his See also:

chief scientific work. But his activities were essentially many-sided. He definitely established the absorptive See also:power of clear aqueous vapour—a point of See also:great meteorological significance. He made brilliant experiments elucidating the See also:blue of the See also:sky, and discovered the precipitation of organic vapours by means of See also:light. He called attention to curious phenomena occurring in the track of a luminous See also:beam. He examined the opacity of the See also:air for See also:sound in connexion with lighthouse and See also:siren work, and he finally clinched the proof of what had been already substantially demonstrated by several others, viz. that germ-See also:free air did not initiate putrefaction, and that accordingly " spontaneous generation " as ordinarily understood was a chimera (1895-1876). One See also:practical outcome of these researches is the method now always adopted of sterilizing by a See also:succession of See also:gentle warmings, sufficient to kill the See also:developed micro-organisms, instead of by one fierce See also:heating attempting to attack the more refractory undeveloped germs of the same. This method of intermittent sterilization originated with Tyndall, and it was an important contribution to biological science and See also:industrial practice. For the substantial publication of these researches reference must be made to the Transactions of the Royal Society; but an account of many of them was incorporated in his best-known books, namely, the famous Heat as a Mode of Motion (1863; and later See also:editions to 188o), the first popular exposition of the See also:mechanical theory of heat, which in 1862 had not reached the See also:text-books; The Forms of See also:Water, &c. (1872); Lectures on Light (1893); Floating See also:Matter in the Air (1881) ; On Sound (1867; revised 18i5, 1883, 1893). The original See also:memoirs themselves on radiant heat and on magnetism were collected and issued as two large volumes under the following titles: See also:Diamagnetism and Magne-crystallic See also:Action (187o) ; Contributions to Molecular Physics in the Domain of Radiant Heat (1872). It was on the whole the See also:personality, however, rather than the discoverer, that was greatest in Tyndall.

In the pursuit of pure science for its own See also:

sake, undisturbed by sordid considerations, he shone as a See also:beacon light to younger men—an exemplar of See also:simple tastes, robust nature and lofty aspirations. His See also:elevation above the See also:common run of men was conspicuous in his treatment of the See also:money which came to him in connexion with his successful lecturing tour in See also:America (1872-1873). It amounted to several thousands of pounds, but he would See also:touch none of it; he placed it in the hands of trustees for the benefit of See also:American science—an See also:act of lavishness which bespeaks a See also:noble nature. Though not so prominent as Huxley in detailed controversy over theological problems, he played an important part in educating the public mind in the attitude which the development of natural philosophy entailed towards See also:dogma and religious authority. His famous See also:Belfast address (1894), de-livered as. See also:president of the British Association, made a great stir among those who were then busy with the supposed conflict between science and See also:religion; and in his occasional writings—Fragments of Science, as he called them, " for unscientific See also:people " —he touched on current conceptions of See also:prayer, miracles, &c., with characteristic straightforwardness and vigour. As a public See also:speaker he had an inborn Irish readiness and vehemence of expression; and, though a thorough Liberal, he split from Mr See also:Gladstone on Irish See also:home See also:rule, and took an active part in politics in opposing it. In 1876 Tyndall married Louisa, daughter of See also:Lord Claud See also:Hamilton. He built in 1877 a cottage on See also:Bel See also:Alp above the See also:Rhone valley, and in 1885 a house on Hindhead, near See also:Haslemere. At the latter See also:place he spent most of his later years; his See also:health was, however, no longer as vigorous as his See also:brain, and he suffered frequently from sleeplessness. On the 4th of See also:December 1893, having been accidentally given an overdose of See also:chloral, he died at Hindhead.

End of Article: TYNDALL, JOHN (182o-1893)

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