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'{{About|the scientist|the 20th century British politician of the same name|John Tyndall (politician)|the poet|John Tyndall (Canadian poet)}} {{Infobox scientist | name = John Tyndall | image = JohnTyndall(1820-1893),Engraving,SIL14-T003-09a_cropped.jpg | birth_date = {{birth-date|2 August 1820 }} | birth_place = [[Leighlinbridge]], [[County Carlow]], Ireland | death_date = {{death-date|4 December 1893 }} (aged 73) | death_place = [[Haslemere]], [[Surrey]], England | residence = | nationality = [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|British]] | ethnicity = | field = [[Physics]] | work_institution = [[Royal Institution of Great Britain]] | alma_mater = [[University of Marburg]] | doctoral_advisor = | doctoral_students = | known_for = [[Atmosphere]], [[physics education]], <br /> [[Tyndall effect]], [[diamagnetism]], <br />[[infrared radiation]], [[Tyndallization]] | prizes = | religion = | footnotes = }} '''John Tyndall''' [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]] (2 August 1820 &ndash; 4 December 1893) was a prominent 19th century physicist. His initial scientific fame arose in the 1850s from his study of [[diamagnetism]]. Later he studied [[thermal radiation]], and produced a number of discoveries about processes in the [[atmosphere]]. Tyndall published seventeen books, which brought state-of-the-art 19th century [[experimental physics]] to a wider audience. From 1853 to 1887 he was professor of physics at the [[Royal Institution]] of Great Britain, where he became the successor to positions held by [[Michael Faraday]]. == Early years and education == Tyndall was born in [[Leighlinbridge]], [[County Carlow]], Ireland. His father was a local police constable, descended from [[Gloucestershire]] emigrants who settled in southeast Ireland around 1670. Tyndall attended the local schools in County Carlow until his late teens, and was probably an assistant teacher near the end of his time there. Subjects learned at school notably included [[technical drawing]] and mathematics with some applications of those subjects to [[land surveying]]. He was hired as a [[technical drawing|draftsman]] by the government's land surveying & mapping agency in Ireland in his late teens in 1839, and moved to work for the same agency in England in 1842. In the decade of the 1840s, a railroad-building boom was in progress, and Tyndall's land surveying experience was valuable and in demand by the railroad companies. Between 1844 and 1847, he was lucratively employed in railroad construction planning.<ref>When working for the government's land surveying agency in Lancashire, Tyndall was one of a number of employees who signed a petition for higher wages plus some other working conditions changes. All of the signatories to the petition were fired. That was in November 1843. Early in 1844 he was hired by a railroad surveying company in Lancashire at almost four times higher pay than what the government had been paying him. Source: [http://www.informaworld.com/index/780955820.pdf John Tyndall: A study in vocational enterprise].</ref><ref>Tyndall was the chief surveyor for the proposed railway line from Halifax to Keighley in 1846, according to [[Thomas Archer Hirst]], who worked under Tyndall at the same engineering firm at the time ([http://turnbull.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Hirst.html]). Tyndall described himself as the "principal assistant" at the firm ([http://www.archive.org/stream/proceedings52royauoft/proceedings52royauoft_djvu.txt]).</ref> [[Image:YoungJohnTyndall.jpg|thumb|180px|right|John Tyndall circa 1850]] In 1847 Tyndall opted to become a mathematics and surveying teacher at a boarding school in [[Hampshire]]. Recalling this decision later, he wrote: "the desire to grow intellectually did not forsake me; and, when railway work slackened, I accepted in 1847 a post as master in Queenwood College."<ref>Tyndall has detailed recollections about his life in the 1840s in "Address Delivered at the Birkbeck Institution on October 22, 1884", which is published as a chapter in his ''[http://www.archive.org/details/newfragments00tynd New Fragments]'' essays (1892).</ref><ref>Queenwood College was founded by the industrialist and social philosopher [[Robert Owen]]. Reportedly Tyndall met Robert Owen more than once, and perhaps opted to work at Queenwood under Owen's influence. An account of Tyndall's acquaintance with Robert Owen is in the book ''"Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Volume 12: Great Scientists"'' by Elbert Hubbard, published in 1916, available at [http://www.online-literature.com/elbert-hubbard/journeys-vol-twelve/10/] (or [http://www.archive.org/details/littlejourneysto12hubbiala]). For a different account of Tyndall's move to Queenwood, involving one George Edmondson, see Norman D. McMillan's biography of Tyndall at [http://books.google.ie/books?id=fjDXtalPeesC&pg=PA96&lpg=PA96&dq=%22tulketh+hall%22+%22harmony+hall%22].</ref> Another recently-arrived young teacher at Queenwood was [[Edward Frankland]], who had previously worked as a chemical laboratory assistant for the [[British Geological Survey]]. Frankland and Tyndall became good friends. On the strength of Frankland's prior knowledge, they decided to go to Germany to further their education in science. (Among other things, Frankland knew that certain German universities were ahead of any in Britain in experimental chemistry and physics. British universities were still focused on classics and mathematics and not laboratory science.) The pair moved to Germany in summer 1848 and enrolled at the [[University of Marburg]], where [[Robert Bunsen]] was an influential teacher. Tyndall studied under Bunsen for two years.<ref>In deciding to attend the University of Marburg, the reputation of Robert Bunsen was one of the main attractions for Frankland and Tyndall. Tyndall studied under Bunsen from 1848 to 1850. Thirty-five years later, the student praised the teacher for explaining chemistry and physics in "the language of experiment" and followed that with "I still look back on Bunsen as the nearest approach to my ideal of a university teacher." [http://www.archive.org/details/newfragments00tynd]</ref> Probably more influential for Tyndall at Marburg was Professor [[Hermann Knoblauch]], with whom Tyndall maintained communications by letter for many years afterwards. Tyndall's Marburg dissertation was a mathematical analysis of screw surfaces in 1850 (under Friedrich Ludwig Stegmann). He stayed at Marburg for a further year doing research on magnetism with Knoblauch, including some months' visit at the laboratory of Knoblauch's main teacher, [[Heinrich Gustav Magnus]] in Berlin. It is clear today that Bunsen and Magnus were among the very best experimental science instructors of the era. Thus, when Tyndall returned to live in England in summer 1851, he probably had as good an education in experimental science as anyone in England. ==Early scientific work== Tyndall's early original work in physics was his experiments on [[magnetism]] and [[diamagnetic]] [[polarity (physics)|polarity]], on which he worked from 1850 to 1856. His two most influential reports were the first two, co-authored with Knoblauch. One of them was entitled "The magneto-optic properties of crystals, and the relation of magnetism and diamagnetism to molecular arrangement", dated May 1850. The two described an inspired experiment, with an inspired interpretation. These and other magnetic investigations very soon made Tyndall known among the leading scientists of the day.<ref>Tyndall's main 1850's research reports on diamagnetism were later republished as a collection, which is available at [http://www.archive.org/details/researchesondiam00tynduoft Archive.org]. In the preface to the collection Tyndall writes about the work's historical context. [[John Tyndall#Biographies of John Tyndall|William T. Jeans' biography of Tyndall]] (pages 22 to 34) also goes into the historical context of Tyndall's diamagnetic investigations.</ref> He was elected a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] in 1852. In his search for a suitable research appointment, he was able to ask the longtime editor of the leading German physics journal ([[Johann Christian Poggendorff|Poggendorff]]) and other prominent men to write testimonials on his behalf. In 1853, he attained the prestigious appointment of Professor of [[Natural Philosophy]] (Physics) at the Royal Institution in London, due in no small part to the esteem his work had garnered from [[Michael Faraday]], the leader of magnetic investigations at the Royal Institution.<ref>In advocating for Tyndall's appointment, in a letter to the managers of the Royal Institution on 23 May 1853, Faraday also praised Tyndall's abilities as a lecturer: "I have heard him on two or three occasions, when his manner of expounding nature by discourse and experiment was in my judgement excellent". Source: [http://www.londoncentre-hstm.ac.uk/thesis/stable/2008_hankin.pdf].</ref> ==Main scientific work== Beginning in the late 1850s, Tyndall studied the action of [[radiant energy]] on the constituents of [[air]], and it led him onto several lines of inquiry, and his original research results included the following: [[Image:TyndallsSetupForMeasuringRadiantHeatAbsorptionByGases annotated.jpg|thumb|325px|Tyndall's setup for measuring the [[radiant heat]] absorption of gases. (Click on image for a description).]] * Tyndall explained the heat in the Earth's atmosphere in terms of the capacities of the various gases in the air to [[Absorption (electromagnetic radiation)|absorb]] [[radiant heat]], a.k.a. infrared radiation. His measuring device, which used [[thermopile]] technology, is an early landmark in the history of [[absorption spectroscopy]] of gases.<ref>Details of Tyndall's device for measuring the infrared absorptive power of a gas are described in {{cite book | author = James Rodger Fleming | title = Historical Perspectives on Climate Change | year = 2005 | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = | pages = 69–70 | url = http://books.google.com/?id=09RtcSCGv7gC&pg=PA69&lpg=PA69 | isbn = 9780195189735}} Greater details are in Chapter I of Tyndall's own book ''[http://ia341003.us.archive.org/0/items/contributionsto01tyndgoog/contributionsto01tyndgoog.djvu Contributions to Molecular Physics in the Domain of Radiant Heat]''{{DjVulink}}.</ref> He was the first to correctly measure the infrared absorptive powers of the gases nitrogen, oxygen, water vapour, carbon dioxide, ozone, methane, etc. He concluded that [[water vapour]] is the strongest absorber of radiant heat in the atmosphere and is the principal gas controlling air temperature. Absorption by the bulk of the other gases is negligible. Prior to Tyndall it was widely surmised that the Earth's atmosphere has a [[Greenhouse Effect]], but he was first to prove it. The proof was that water vapor strongly absorbed infrared radiation.<ref>Tyndall explained the "greenhouse effect" in a public lecture in January 1863 entitled "On Radiation Through The Earth's Atmosphere". He emphasized that our environment would be much colder at nighttime in the absence of the greenhouse effect. This short, readable lecture is reprinted in his 1872 book about radiant heat, [http://ia341003.us.archive.org/0/items/contributionsto01tyndgoog/contributionsto01tyndgoog.djvu available here]{{DjVulink}}.</ref> * He consolidated and enhanced the work of [[Paul-Quentin Desains|Desains]], [[James David Forbes|Forbes]], [[Hermann Knoblauch|Knoblauch]] and others demonstrating that the principal properties of visible light can be reproduced for radiant heat, namely reflection, refraction, diffraction, polarization, depolarization, double refraction, and rotation in a magnetic field ([[Faraday effect]]).<ref>This is reported by James W. Gentry and Lin Jui-Chen in an article entitled "The Legacy of John Tyndall in Aerosol Science" published in ''Journal of Aerosol Science'' vol 27 page S503, year 1996, available online at [http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V6B-46204K8-8W&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=88184dd77f3152a1973afd7d91bca571]. The article says that "Tyndall's primary contributions were...[among other things]... the design of experiments which increased the deflections of the galvanometer by two orders of magnitude from the earlier measurements for double refraction (by Knoblauch) and the Faraday effect (by [[Frédéric de la Provostaye|De La Provostaye]] and [[Paul-Quentin Desains|Desains]])". Tyndall's presentation of the subject is under the heading ''"the identity of light and radiant heat"'' in his 1873 tutorial ''[http://ia331331.us.archive.org/0/items/sixlecturesonlig028478mbp/sixlecturesonlig028478mbp.djvu Six Lectures on Light]''{{DjVulink}}.</ref> He also devised demonstrations that advanced the question of how radiant heat is absorbed at the molecular level. That included demonstrations involving what he called [[calorescence]], which is the conversion of infrared into visible light at the molecular level.<ref>See [[calorescence]] for details.</ref> He referred to infrared as "obscure radiation", "dark waves" or "ultra-red undulations", as the word "infrared" did not start coming into use until the 1880s. Among his key laboratory tools were substances that are transparent to infrared and opaque to visible light; or vice versa. (Tyndall's main published research reports about radiant heat were republished as a 450-page collection in 1872. The collection contains more than 200 mentions of the name [[Heinrich Gustav Magnus|Professor Magnus]]. Tyndall and Magnus closely studied each other's radiant heat research during the 1860s.) * In the investigations on radiant heat in air it had been necessary to use air from which all traces of floating dust and other [[particulates]] had been removed.<ref>As reported in the 10-page biography of John Tyndall by Arthur Whitmore Smith, a professor of physics, writing in an American scientific monthly in 1920. Available [http://ia341030.us.archive.org/1/items/contributions05michuoft/contributions05michuoft.djvu here]{{DjVulink}}.</ref> A very sensitive way to detect particulates is to bathe the air with intense light. The scattering of light by particulate impurities in air and other gases, and in liquids, is known today as the [[Tyndall Effect|Tyndall Effect or Tyndall Scattering]].<ref>The term [[Tyndall Scattering]] is subject to some definitional overlap with the terms [[Rayleigh Scattering]] and [[Mie Scattering]].</ref> In studying this scattering during the late 1860s Tyndall was a beneficiary of recent improvements in electric-powered lights. He also had the use of good light concentrators. He developed the [[nephelometer]] and [[turbidity|turbidimeter]] and similar instruments that show properties of [[aerosols]] and [[colloids]] through concentrated light beams. Particulates suspended in air are visible to the naked eye in a darkened room with sunlight coming through a crack in the curtains. Mostly visibly that's light reflecting off large particulates which is not the same as light [[scattering]] off small particulates. But with dark background illumination and customized light beams, and without microscopes, very low concentrations of particulates very far below the threshold of visibility become visible and quantifiable because of light scattering. When combined with microscopes, the result is the [[ultramicroscope]], which was developed later by others. Tyndall is the founder of this line of instruments, which are based on exploiting the Tyndall effect. * In the lab he came up with a simple way to obtain "optically pure" air. He coated the inside walls of a box with [[glycerin]], which is a sticky syrup. He discovered that after a few days' wait, the air inside the sealed box was entirely particulate-free under examination with light beams, because the various floating-matter particulates had ended up getting stuck to the walls or settling on the sticky floor.<ref>Tyndall's book has a picture of the setup: ''[http://ia341038.us.archive.org/2/items/essaysonfloating00tynduoft/essaysonfloating00tynduoft.djvu The Floating-matter of the Air]''{{DjVulink}} (search for the text "Fig. 2" in the book). Tyndall writes (page 46): "Gravity is not the only agent.... It is practically impossible to surround a closed vessel by an absolutely uniform temperature; and where differences of temperature, however small, exist, air-currents will be established. By such gentle currents the floating particles are gradually brought into contact with all the surrounding surfaces. To these they adhere, and the suspended matter finally disappears from the air altogether."</ref> There were no signs of floating micro-organisms ("germs") in the optically pure air. He compared what happened when he let heat-sterilized meat-broths sit in such pure air, and in ordinary air. The meat-broths in the pure air remained "sweet" (as he said) to smell and taste after many months of sitting, while the ones in ordinary air started to become putrid after a few days. These demonstrations extended [[Louis Pasteur]]'s earlier demonstrations that the presence of micro-organisms is a precondition for biomass decomposition. The next year (1876) some repeats of the exercise resulted in a surprising failure to reproduce it. From this he was led to find viable [[bacterial spores]] in supposedly heat-sterilized foods. The foods had been contaminated with dry bacterial spores from [[hay]] in the lab, he found out. All bacteria are killed by boiling but they have a spore form that can survive boiling, he correctly contended, citing research by [[Ferdinand Cohn]]. Tyndall found a way to eradicate the spores that came to be known as "[[Tyndallization]]". At the time, it affirmed the "[[germ theory]]" against a number of critics whose experimental results had been defective from the same cause. During the mid-1870s Pasteur and Tyndall were in frequent communication.<ref>See [http://www.microform.co.uk/guides/R97614.pdf] for a catalog, presumably incomplete, of letters from Pasteur to Tyndall. Their communications were most frequent during the mid-1870s. The earliest letter is dated 10 Aug 1871. Pasteur's early research had been in fermentation vats and broths. As he aimed to extend his program to air, he got in touch with Tyndall as someone who was an expert at dealing technically with air. In June 1871 a short lecture by Tyndall entitled "Dust and Disease" was published in the ''British Medical Journal''. The [http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=2260786&blobtype=pdf "Dust and Disease" lecture] was Tyndall's first published comments in this area in a medical journal. Ten years later Tyndall published a 350-page book ''[http://ia341038.us.archive.org/2/items/essaysonfloating00tynduoft/essaysonfloating00tynduoft.djvu Essays on the Floating-matter of the Air in relation to Putrefaction and Infection]''{{DjVulink}} which consists primarily of descriptions of his own experiments.</ref><ref>See also {{cite book | author = [[James Bryant Conant|Conant, James Bryant]] | chapter = Pasteur's and Tyndall's Study of Spontaneous Generation | title = Harvard Case Histories in Experimental Science | year = 1957 | volume = 2 | publisher = Harvard University Press | location = Cambridge, Massachusetts | pages = 489 &ndash; 539}}</ref> [[Image:TyndallsSetupForDemonstratingReflectionOfSoundInAir.jpg|thumb|One of Tyndall's experimental apparatuses for showing that [[sound]] is reflected in air at the interface between air bodies of different densities.]] * He was the first to observe and report the phenomenon of [[thermophoresis]] in aerosols. He spotted it surrounding hot objects while investigating the Tyndall Effect with focused lightbeams in a dark room. He devised a better way to demonstrate it, and then simply reported it (1870), without investigating the physics of it in depth.<ref>For a brief history of thermophoresis studies see [http://books.google.com/books?id=O3PQ2BVD8QsC&pg=PA6274&lpg=PA6274&dq=historical+perspective&source=bl&ots=A3wDdcH8Dg&sig=fz3wLz8XWEvT6dhOKvij3hHZevY&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&ct=result Encyclopedia of Surface and Colloid Science (Google Book Search preview)]. Thermophoresis was described by Tyndall in a Royal Institution lecture titled ''On Haze and Dust'' included in his 1870 book ''[http://ia311343.us.archive.org/1/items/scientificaddre01tyndgoog/scientificaddre01tyndgoog.djvu Scientific Addresses]''{{DjVulink}}. He observed the thermophoresis in gas mixtures. Unrelatedly and unknown to him, thermophoresis was observed in liquid mixtures in 1856 by [[Carl Ludwig]].</ref> * In the late 1860s and early 1870s he wrote an introductory book and several research reports about sound propagation in air, and was one of the chief participants in a large-scale British project that developed a better [[foghorn]]. In laboratory demonstrations motivated by foghorn issues, he established that sound is partially ''reflected'' (i.e. partially bounced back like an echo) at the location where an air mass of one temperature meets another air mass of a different temperature; and more generally when a body of air contains two or more separate air masses of different densities or temperatures, the sound travels poorly because of reflections occurring at the interfaces between the air masses, and very poorly when many such interfaces are present. (He then argued, though inconclusively, that this is the usual main reason why the same distant sound, e.g. foghorn, can be heard stronger or fainter on different days or at different times of day.)<ref>[[John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh|Lord Rayleigh]], who published a much-praised tome about sound in 1877-78, provides a brief review of Tyndall's original contributions to the science of sound in ''[http://ia311228.us.archive.org/0/items/proceedings14roya/proceedings14roya.djvu Proceedings of the Royal Institution (vol XIV)]''{{DjVulink}} (dated 16 Mar 1894). Tyndall's own presentation of his ''"researches on the acoustic transparency of the atmosphere"'' is in the 3rd edition (1875) of his book ''[http://ia351414.us.archive.org/2/items/sound05tyndgoog/sound05tyndgoog.djvu Sound]''{{DjVulink}}, Chapter VII.</ref> * In radiant-heat experiments that called for much laboratory expertise in the early 1860s, he showed for a variety of readily vaporizable liquids that, molecule for molecule, the vapor form and the liquid form have essentially the same power to absorb radiant heat.<ref>''[http://ia311235.us.archive.org/0/items/contributionsto03tyndgoog/contributionsto03tyndgoog.djvu Contributions to Molecular Physics in the Domain of Radiant Heat]'', pages 199-214, dated 1863. Those experiments demanded "scrupulous accuracy, and minute attention to details", he said. In one of his simpler experiments, a light beam from an 1860s-vintage electric lamp was brought to a focus via a powerful concave mirror. On its way to the focus point, the light beam was passed through a body of liquid water. At the focus point, beyond the water, the light beam was able to set wood on fire but was not able to melt frozen water. On removal of the intervening body of liquid water, the frozen water rapidly melted. This indicates that frequencies emerging from water are specifically frequencies that water molecules do not absorb and water's phase state does not have a discernible role. (''Ibid.'' page 314; and [http://www.archive.org/details/fragmscience01tyndrich ref] page 84).</ref> (In modern experiments using narrow-band spectra, some relatively small differences are found that Tyndall's equipment was unable to get at; see e.g. [[water absorption|absorption spectrum of H₂O]]). * When studying the absorption of radiant heat by [[ozone]], he came up with a demonstration that helped confirm that ozone is an oxygen cluster.<ref>Tyndall's analysis of ozone, dated January 1862, is in sections 17, 18 & 19 of Chapter II of ''[http://ia311235.us.archive.org/0/items/contributionsto03tyndgoog/contributionsto03tyndgoog.djvu Contributions to Molecular Physics in the Domain of Radiant Heat]''{{DjVulink}}. For an historical context for it see [http://www.scs.uiuc.edu/~mainzv/HIST/awards/OPA%20Papers/2001-Rubin.pdf The History of Ozone 1839 - 1868]. In the biographical sketch of Tyndall by J. Burchfield (1981), as summarized at [http://www.thesciencebookstore.com/bookmain.asp?pg=2&bookcat=Earth%20Science], also [http://www.eoearth.org/article/Tyndall,_John], [http://terra.nasa.gov/Publications/laquila/PPT/History.ppt], it says Tyndall "showed that ozone was an oxygen cluster rather than a hydrogen compound."</ref> * Using his expertise about radiant heat absorption by gases, he invented a system for measuring the amount of carbon dioxide in a sample of exhaled human breath (1862, 1864). The basics of Tyndall's system is in daily use in hospitals today for monitoring patients under anesthesia.<ref>"[http://www.anesthesia-analgesia.org/cgi/reprint/107/3/890.pdf Infrared Measurement of Carbon Dioxide in the Human Breath: Breathe-Through Devices from Tyndall to the Present Day]" by Michael B. Jaffe, in ''Anesthesia & Analgesia'', volume 107, pages 890-904, year 2008. See also §4 of Chapter II (dated 1862) and §13 of Chapter VI (dated 1864) in John Tyndall's [http://www.archive.org/details/contributionsto01tyndgoog ''Contributions to Molecular Physics in the Domain of Radiant Heat''].</ref> (See [[capnometry]].) * Invented a better fireman's [[respirator]], a hood that filtered smoke and noxious gas from air (1871, 1874).<ref>[http://www33.brinkster.com/iiiii/gasmask/page.html History of air-purifying type gas-masks in the 19th-century] by Ian Taggart. Also [http://www.archive.org/stream/fragmentsscienc10tyndgoog#page/n318/mode/2up John Tyndall, ''Fireman's Respirator'' (1871)] and [http://www.jstor.org/pss/112853 John Tyndall, ''Fireman's Respirator'' (1874)].</ref> An index of 19th century scientific research journals has John Tyndall as the author of more than 147 papers, with practically all of them dated between 1850 and 1884, which is an average of more than four papers a year over that 35-year period.<ref>In the later 19th century the Royal Society of London compiled an international catalog of scientific research papers, covering the whole century, indexed by author. In the Royal Society's catalog 147 entries appear under Tyndall's name between 1850 and 1883. Between 1850 and 1863 Tyndall published 74 papers in research journals, an average of nearly one every two months. A listing of these papers can be found in the Royal Society's 1872 publication ''[http://www.archive.org/details/catalogueofscien06roya Catalogue of Scientific Papers Volume VI]''. From 1864 through 1873 he published 41 papers, and these are listed in the Royal Society's ''[http://www.archive.org/details/catalogueofscien08roya Catalogue of Scientific Papers Volume VIII]''. From 1874 through 1883 he published 32 papers, and these are listed in ''[http://www.archive.org/details/catalogueofscien11roya Catalogue of Scientific Papers Volume XI]''. He produced very little after he got sick in 1885. Apart from his research papers, between 1860 and 1881 Tyndall also published 13 science books.</ref> [[Image:TyndallSetupForLookingAtAerosols.jpg|thumb|325px|With this apparatus Tyndall observed new chemical reactions produced by high frequency light waves acting on certain vapors. The main scientific interest here, from his point of view, was the additional hard data lent to the grand question of the mechanism by which molecules absorb [[radiant energy]].]] Tyndall was an experimenter and laboratory apparatus builder, not an abstract model builder. He did attempt to extend his studies on the heat-absorptive power of gases and vapors into a research program about molecules. That is one of the underlying agendas of his 1872 book ''Contributions to Molecular Physics in the Domain of Radiant Heat''. It is also evident in the spirit of his widely read 1863 book ''Heat Considered as a Mode of Motion''. Besides heat, he also saw phenomena of magnetism and sound propagation as reducible to molecular behaviors. Invisible molecular behaviors were the ultimate substrate of all physical activity. With this mindset, and his experiments, he outlined an account whereby differing types of molecules have differing absorptions of infrared radiation because their molecular structures give them differing oscillating resonances. He'd gotten into the oscillating resonances idea because he'd seen that any one type of molecule has differing absorptions at differing radiant frequencies and he was entirely persuaded that the only difference between one frequency and another is the frequency.<ref>In early 1861 Tyndall was writing: "All the gases and vapours hitherto mentioned [which are absorbers of radiant heat] are transparent to light; that is to say, the waves of the visible spectrum pass among them without sensible absorption. Hence it is plain that their absorptive power depends on the periodicity of the undulations which strike them.... By Kirchhoff it has been conclusively shown that every atom absorbs in a special degree those waves which are synchronous with its own periods of vibration." ''[http://ia341002.us.archive.org/0/items/contributionsto01tyndgoog/contributionsto01tyndgoog.djvu Contributions to Molecular Physics in the Domain of Radiant Heat]''{{DjVulink}}.</ref> He'd also seen that the absorption behavior of molecules is quite different from that of the atoms composing the molecules — for example the gas nitric oxide (NO) absorbed more than a thousand times more infrared radiation than either nitrogen (N₂) or oxygen (O₂).<ref>''Contributions to Molecular Physics in the Domain of Radiant Heat'', pages 80-81. He says on page 334 that the difference in absorption rates "may be a millionfold" : [abridged] "Let nitrogen and hydrogen be mixed mechanically together in the proportion of 14 : 3. Radiant heat will pass through the mixture as through a vacuum; the amount of heat intercepted is so small as to be practically insensible. The moment the nitrogen and hydrogen build themselves together into the molecules of ammonia [ NH₃ ] the amount of radiant heat which they absorb is augmented more than a thousandfold. It may be a millionfold, for we do not yet know how small the absorption of the absolutely pure mixture really is. The act of chemical union is the sole cause of the enormous alteration in the amount of heat intercepted. The converse is also true: dissolve the chemical bond of the ammonia, and you instantly destroy the absorption."</ref> He'd also seen in several kinds of experiments that no matter whether a gas is a weak absorber of broad-spectrum radiant heat, it will strongly absorb the radiant heat coming from a separate body of the same type of gas.<ref>In the late 1850s Balfour Stewart had showed that cold rock-salt was a very strong absorber of the radiations from hot rock-salt, even though rock-salt was a very weak absorber of the radiations from all other kinds of heat-sources tested. By the early 1860s this had been generalized in the scientific literature to the principle that any kind of chemical will very strongly absorb the radiations coming from a separate body of the same kind of chemical. In Tyndall's words this was a "principle which lies at the basis of spectrum analysis, ... namely, that a body which is competent to emit any ray, whether of heat or light, is competent in the same degree to absorb that ray." Tyndall made several original observations around 1863 by beginning with the assumption that this principle is correct, and the following is a summary of one of them. In a flame of burning carbon monoxide, the carbon monoxide chemically combines with the oxygen of the air to form carbon dioxide plus heat -- that much was widely known. If a body of cold or room-temperature carbon dioxide is placed near the flame "the cold gas is intensely opaque to [i.e. it very strongly absorbs] the radiation from this particular flame, though it is highly transparent to [i.e. it very weakly absorbs] heat of every other kind." Thus, the great bulk of the heat in the carbon monoxide flame fits the [[emission spectrum]] of carbon dioxide, implying the heat is a radiant emission from the newly-formed carbon dioxide molecules. Tyndall got the same type of result with a flame of [[hydrogen fuel|burning hydrogen]], another flame known to be chemically simple in the sense that very little intermediate or transitory molecules are produced in it. This appears to be the first demonstration that the heat given out in chemical reactions has its physical origination within the new molecules. Tyndall's report of the demonstration is in ''[http://ia341002.us.archive.org/0/items/contributionsto01tyndgoog/contributionsto01tyndgoog.djvu Contributions to Molecular Physics in the Domain of Radiant Heat]''{{DjVulink}}, sections 11 to 17 of Chapter VI, dated 1864. (A related demonstration is in sections 3 to 8 of Chapter V, dated 1863.) It's also discussed in Tyndall's ''[http://ia340926.us.archive.org/0/items/fragmscience01tyndrich/fragmscience01tyndrich.djvu Fragments of Science, Volume I]''{{DjVulink}} Chapter III, dated 1866. For a modern analysis of where the heat is coming from in the carbon monoxide flame see [http://www.jstor.org/stable/2414583 ref]. Tyndall also interpreted the carbon monoxide flame as showing that carbon dioxide's spectral profile remains the same at room temperature and at a temperature of over 2000°C, the temperature in the flame; and likewise for the product of the hydrogen flame. This was in contrast to the easily seen fact in solids such as carbon and platinum where the spectral profile moves towards the quicker frequencies when the temperature is increased.</ref> That demonstrated a kinship between the molecular mechanisms of [[Absorption (electromagnetic radiation)|absorption]] and [[Emission (electromagnetic radiation)|emission]]. Such a kinship was also in evidence in experiments by [[Balfour Stewart]] and others, cited and extended by Tyndall, that showed with respect to broad-spectrum radiant heat that molecules that are weak absorbers are weak emitters and strong absorbers are strong emitters.<ref>''Contributions to Molecular Physics in the Domain of Radiant Heat'', section 12 of chapter I, and section 6 of chapter IX. Tyndall in 1860 was first to demonstrate and quantify that visually transparent gases (such as carbon monoxide and vaporous alcohol) are infrared emitters, and when all the various gases were ranked by their emissive powers the rank order was the same as it was for their absorptive powers.</ref> (For example [[rock-salt]] is an exceptionally poor absorber of heat via radiation, and a good absorber of heat via conduction. When a plate of rock-salt is heated via conduction and let stand on an insulator, it takes an exceptionally long time to cool down; i.e., it's a poor emitter of infrared.) The kinship between absorption and emission was also consistent with some generic or abstract features of [[resonator]]s.<ref>In 1853 [[Anders Angstrom]] had argued, based on general principles of resonance, that an incandescent gas should emit luminous rays of the same frequencies as those it can absorb. After this was affirmed and made more general experimentally by Tyndall and others in the early 1860s, Angstrom got a lot of plaudits. When the original paper by Angstrom (published in German in 1854) was published in English in 1855, the translator from the German was John Tyndall. [http://books.google.ca/books?id=spYSK-g8DrkC&pg=PA61&lpg=PA61&dq=John]</ref> The [[photochemical effect]] convinced Tyndall that the resonator could not be the molecule as a whole unit; it had to be some substructure, because otherwise the photochemical effect would be impossible.<ref>''Contributions to Molecular Physics in the Domain of Radiant Heat'' page 428, dated 1868. When talking about chemical reactions produced by light he says "if the absorption [of radiant energy] were the act of the molecule as a whole, the ''relative'' motions of its constituent atoms would remain unchanged, and there would be no mechanical cause for their separation [in a photochemical decomposition]." Therefore in a [[photochemical reaction|photochemical decomposition]], "it is probably the synchronism of the vibrations of ''one portion'' of the molecule with the incident waves which enables the amplitude of those vibrations to augment [i.e. resonate] until the chain which binds the parts of the molecule together is snapped asunder."</ref> But he was without testable ideas as to the form of this substructure, and did not partake in speculation in print. His promotion of the molecular mindset, and his efforts to experimentally expose what molecules are, has been discussed by one historian under the title ''"John Tyndall, The Rhetorician Of Molecularity"''.<ref>''"John Tyndall, The Rhetorician Of Molecularity"'', by Maria Yamalidou, published 1999, a two-part article at [http://journals.royalsociety.org/content/dgwu2dnt1q8r0jwf/fulltext.pdf] and [http://journals.royalsociety.org/content/kwdfecyppmedk9cw/fulltext.pdf]. Also see Tyndall's popular essay ''"Atoms, Molecules, and Ether Waves"'' in Tyndall's book of essays for a broad audience ''[http://ia311227.us.archive.org/1/items/newfragments00tynd/newfragments00tynd.djvu New Fragments]''{{DjVulink}}.</ref> In his lectures at the Royal Institution Tyndall put a great value on — and was talented at producing — lively, visible demonstrations of physics concepts.<ref>A history paper dated 2008, ''[http://www.londoncentre-hstm.ac.uk/thesis/stable/2008_hankin.pdf John Tyndall's Lecture Courses at the Royal Institution and their Reception]'' (pages 28 - 31) says that Tyndall and his audiences liked experimental demonstrations that had an element of spectacle, and he selected lecture topics with that consideration partly in mind. On a related point, the paper quotes the biographers Eve and Creasey: "His lectures were written down, rehersed, and profusely illustrated with experiment. He knew that a public lecture should have the same exacting care in production as a play in a theatre."</ref> In one lecture, published later in one of his books, Tyndall demonstrated the propagation of light down through a stream of falling water via [[total internal reflection]] of the light. It was referred to as the "light fountain". It is historically significant today because it demonstrates the scientific foundation for modern fiber optic technology. During second half of the 20th century Tyndall was usually credited with being the first to make this demonstration. However, [[Jean-Daniel Colladon]] published a report of it in [[Comptes Rendus]] in 1842, and there's some suggestive evidence that Tyndall's knowledge of it came ultimately from Colladon and no evidence that Tyndall claimed to have originated it himself.<ref>Daniel Colladon's 1842 "light fountain" article is entitled "On the reflections of a ray of light inside a parabolic liquid stream". For more about the history of this during the 19th century see chapter 2 of the book ''"The Story of Fiber Optics"'' by Jeff Hecht available for viewing online at [http://books.google.fm/books?id=_G8B_lU_UHEC&pg=PA13&lpg=PA13&dq=%22the+man+who+guided+light%22&source=web&ots=D7xurCiibF&sig=qaRxlVJ1lniCrsH9Euhj1_I1Ra0&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result Google Book Search Preview]. In Tyndall's own 1870 book ''[http://ia311526.us.archive.org/1/items/notesofcourseofn00tyndrich/notesofcourseofn00tyndrich.djvu Notes about Light]'' he has a section entitled "Total Reflexion" where he explains: "When the light passes from air into water, the refracted ray is bent ''towards'' the perpendicular.... When the ray passes from water to air it is bent ''from'' the perpendicular.... If the angle which the ray in water encloses with the perpendicular to the surface be greater than 48 degrees, the ray will not quit the water at all: it will be ''totally reflected'' at the surface.... The angle which marks the limit where total reflexion begins is called the limiting angle of the medium. For water this angle is 48° 27', for flint glass it is 38° 41', while for diamond it is 23° 42'."</ref> ==Alpine mountaineering and glaciology== [[Image:Tyndall_1896_Figure_7-37-MJ2.jpg|thumb|325px|John Tyndall explored the glacial tributaries feeding [[Mer de Glace]] in 1857. General topology (left); dirt-bands in glacier (right).]] Tyndall visited the Alps in 1856 for scientific reasons and ended up becoming a pioneering mountain climber. He visited the [[Alps]] almost every summer from 1856 onward, was a member of the very first mountaineering team to reach the top of the [[Weisshorn]] (1861), and led one of the early teams to reach the top of the [[Matterhorn]] (1868). He is thus one of the names associated with the "[[Golden age of alpinism|golden age of Alpinism]]", i.e., the mid-Victorian years when many of the Alpine peaks were summited for the first time.<ref>According to the account in Tyndall's book ''The Glaciers of the Alps'' (1860), Tyndall in 1858 summited [[Monte Rosa]] solo carrying only a ham sandwich for sustenance. The first human summiting of Monte Rosa had taken place only in 1855. He had already summited Monte Rosa in a guided group on 10 Aug 1858 but he made an unplanned second summit solo on 17 Aug 1858 after breakfast: "the waiter then provided me with a ham sandwich, and, with my [[wiktionary:scrip#Etymology 1|scrip]] thus frugally furnished, I thought the heights of Monte Rosa might be won...." (continued at pages 151-157 of ''[http://www.archive.org/details/glaciersalpsbeing00tyndrich Glaciers of the Alps]''). Besides Tyndall's own books, information about Tyndall as a mountaineer is available at [http://www.archive.org/details/historyofmountai006709mbp ''A History of Mountaineering in the Alps''] by Claire Eliane Engel and [http://www.archive.org/details/victorianmountai010590mbp ''The Victorian Mountaineers''] by Ronald Clark.</ref> In the Alps, Tyndall studied [[glaciers]], and especially [[glacier motion]]. His explanation of glacial flow brought him into dispute with others, particularly [[James David Forbes]]. Much of the early scientific work had been done by Forbes, but Forbes at that time didn't know of the phenomenon of [[Regelation]] which was discovered a little later by Michael Faraday. Regelation played a key role in Tyndall's explanation. Forbes didn't see regelation in the same way at all. Complicating their debate, a disagreement arose publicly over who deserved to get investigator credit for what. Articulate friends of Forbes, as well as Forbes himself, thought that Forbes should get the credit for most of the good science, whereas Tyndall thought the credit should be distributed more widely. Tyndall commented: "The idea of semi-fluid motion belongs entirely to [[Louis Rendu]]; the proof of the quicker central flow belongs in part to Rendu, but almost wholly to [[Louis Agassiz]] and Forbes; the proof of the retardation of the bed belongs to Forbes alone; while the discovery of the locus of the point of maximum motion belongs, I suppose, to me."<ref>That quotation from Tyndall appears in the ''[[1911 Encyclopedia Britannica]]'' article about Tyndall. For Forbes' view of the issue see "Appendix A" (plus Chapter XV) of ''[http://ia351411.us.archive.org/1/items/lifelettersofjam00shaiuoft/lifelettersofjam00shaiuoft.djvu Life and Letters of James David Forbes]''{{DjVulink}}.</ref> When Forbes and Tyndall were in the grave, their disagreement was continued by their respective official biographers. Everyone tried to be reasonable, but agreement wasn't attained. More disappointingly, aspects of glacier motion remained not understood or not proved. [[Tyndall Glacier]] in [[Chile]] is named after John Tyndall, as is [[Mount Tyndall]] in California<ref>{{cite journal | author = Brewer, William H. | title = Discovery of Mount Tyndall | journal = The Popular Science Monthly | year = 1873 | volume = 2 | pages = 739 &ndash; 741 | url = http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Popular_Science_Monthly/Volume_2/April_1873/Discovery_of_Mount_Tyndall }}</ref> and [[Mount Tyndall (Tasmania)|Mount Tyndall]] in Tasmania.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Haast, Julius | title = Notes on the Mountains and Glaciers of the Canterbury Province, New Zealand | journal = The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London | year = 1864 | volume = 34 | pages = 87 &ndash; 96 | url = http://books.google.com/?id=JOoRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA89&dq=Mount+Tyndall | doi = 10.2307/1798467 | publisher = J. Murray | jstor = 10.2307/1798467 }}</ref> ==Educator== [[Image:TyndallsElectrostaticMachine manufacturedby CurtWMeyerNewYork1886.JPG|thumb|right|Tyndall's 1876 book ''Lessons in Electricity'', which was accessible to [[Secondary education|secondary school]] students, demonstrated things with deliberately inexpensive and homemade equipment so that readers could do the same experiments themselves. Nevertheless during the 1880s a distributor of physics instruction equipment to American secondary schools marketed 58 separate items of hardware to accompany the book. The pictured item, an [[electrostatic generator]], is marked "Prof. John Tyndall's Electric machine, Manufactured by Curt W. Meyer... New York". ([http://physics.kenyon.edu/EarlyApparatus/Static_Electricity/Electricity_from_Glass/Electricity_from_Glass.html Ref:]).]] Besides being a scientist, John Tyndall was a science teacher and evangelist for the cause of science. He spent a significant amount of his time disseminating science to the general public — contributing over the years to science columns in popular middle class periodicals such as the ''[[Athenaeum (magazine)|Athenaeum]]'' and the ''[[Saturday Review (London)|Saturday Review]]'' in the UK, and ''[[Popular Science Monthly]]'' in the USA; and giving hundreds of public lectures to non-specialist audiences at the Royal Institution. When he went on a public lecture tour in the USA in 1872, large crowds paid fees to hear him lecture about the nature of [[light]].<ref>During the 14 days in December 1872 when Tyndall gave public evening lectures in [[Manhattan]], ''The New York Times'' printed news items about Tyndall on 9 of the days, some of them lengthy efforts at recapitulating what Professor Tyndall had said in his lecture the night before about the nature of light. ''The New York Times'' noted that more than half the people attending the lectures were women (which was generally true of Tyndall's lectures in London as well) and noted that the series of evening lectures about the nature of light delivered in Washington DC was attended by eminent U.S. Senators, Cabinet Ministers, and one night the U.S. President himself, accompanied by his daughter. [http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?frow=0&n=10&srcht=s&daterange=period&query=%22Prof.+Tyndall%22&srchst=p&submit.x=30&submit.y=11&submit=sub&hdlquery=&bylquery=&mon1=12&day1=04&year1=1872&mon2=02&day2=09&year2=1873 ''The New York Times'' Archives, 4 Dec 1872 - 9 Feb 1873].</ref> A typical statement of Tyndall's reputation at the time is this from a London publication in 1878: "Following the precedent set by Faraday, Professor Tyndall has succeeded not only in original investigation and in teaching science soundly and accurately, but in making it attractive.... When he lectures at the Royal Institution the theatre is crowded."<ref>Tyndall was a celebrity in the later 19th century and he was one of the people profiled in the 1878 book ''[http://www.archive.org/details/celebritiesathom02yate Celebrities at Home (2nd Series)]''.</ref> Tyndall said of the occupation of teacher "I do not know a higher, nobler, and more blessed calling."<ref>Tyndall said he found that "two factors went to the formation of a teacher. In regard to knowledge he must, of course, be master of his work.... [and secondly] a power of character must underlie and enforce the work of the intellect. There were men who could so rouse and energise their pupils — so call forth their strength and the pleasure of its exercise — as to make the hardest work agreeable. Without this power it is questionable whether the teacher could ever really enjoy his vocation; with it, I do not know a higher, nobler, and more blessed calling." ''[http://ia311227.us.archive.org/1/items/newfragments00tynd/newfragments00tynd.djvu New Fragments]''{{DjVulink}}.</ref> His greatest audience was gained ultimately through his books, most of which were not written for experts or specialists. He published 17 science books.<ref>Some of his science books were short, like 80 pages, and others were not. See [[John Tyndall#John Tyndall's books|List of John Tyndall's books]].</ref> From the mid-1860s on, he was one of the world's most famous living physicists, due firstly to his skill and industry as a tutorialist. Most of his books were translated into German<ref>A catalog of the German editions of Tyndall's books is at [http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=au%3AJohn+Tyndall&fq=ln%3Ager Worldcat.org].</ref> and French<ref>A catalog of the French editions of Tyndall's books is at [http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=au%3AJohn+Tyndall&fq=ln%3Afre Worldcat.org].</ref> with his main tutorials staying in print in those languages for decades. As an indicator of his teaching attitude, here are his concluding remarks to the reader at the end of a 200-page tutorial book (1872):<ref>Quote from Tyndall's tutorial ''[http://ia331333.us.archive.org/1/items/formsofwaterincl00tyndrich/formsofwaterincl00tyndrich.djvu The Forms of Water in Clouds and Rivers, Ice and Glaciers]''{{DjVulink}}.</ref> "Here, my friend, our labours close. It has been a true pleasure to me to have you at my side so long. In the sweat of our brows we have often reached the heights where our work lay, but you have been steadfast and industrious throughout, using in all possible cases your own muscles instead of relying upon mine. Here and there I have stretched an arm and helped you to a ledge, but the work of climbing has been almost exclusively your own. It is thus that I should like to teach you all things; showing you the way to profitable exertion, but leaving the exertion to you.... Our task seems plain enough, but you and I know how often we have had to wrangle resolutely with the facts to bring out their meaning. The work, however, is now done, and you are master of a fragment of that sure and certain knowledge which is founded on the faithful study of nature.... Here then we part. And should we not meet again, the memory of these days will still unite us. Give me your hand. Good bye." As another indicator, here is the opening paragraph of his 350-page tutorial entitled ''Sound'' (1867): "In the following pages I have tried to render the science of acoustics interesting to all intelligent persons, including those who do not possess any special scientific culture. The subject is treated experimentally throughout, and I have endeavoured so to place each experiment before the reader that he should realise it as an actual operation." In the preface to the 3rd edition of this book he reports that earlier editions were translated into Chinese at the expense of the Chinese government; and translated into German under the supervision of [[Hermann von Helmholtz]] (a big name in the science of acoustics).<ref>Clicking this external link downloads the complete 350-page tutorial [http://ia351414.us.archive.org/2/items/sound05tyndgoog/sound05tyndgoog.djvu ''Sound'', 3rd edition]{{DjVulink}}</ref> His first published tutorial, which was about glaciers (1860), similarly states: "The work is written with a desire to interest intelligent persons who may not possess any special scientific culture." His most widely praised tutorial, and perhaps also his biggest seller, was the 550-page ''"Heat: a Mode of Motion"'' (1863; updated editions until 1880). It was in print for at least 50 years<ref>The UK publisher was Longman. The US publisher was Appleton. Longman kept the book in print until sometime after 1908 and Appleton until sometime after 1915; see [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/2536919/editions?editionsView=true Worldcat.org]. The German publisher, Braunschweig, introduced a renewed German edition in 1894; and the French publisher, Gauthier-Villars, in 1887.</ref>, and is in print today. Its primary feature is as James Clerk Maxwell said, "the doctrines of the science [of heat] are forcibly impressed on the mind by well-chosen illustrative experiments."<ref>Quoted from [http://www.archive.org/details/theoryheat06maxwgoog].</ref> His three longest tutorials, namely ''Heat'' (1863), ''Sound'' (1867), and ''Light'' (1873), represented state-of-the-art experimental physics at the time they were written. Much of their contents were recent major innovations in the understanding of their respective subjects, which Tyndall was the first writer to present to a wider audience. One caveat is called for about the meaning of "state of the art". The books were devoted to laboratory science and they avoided mathematics. In particular, they contain absolutely no infinitesimal calculus. Mathematical modeling using infinitesimal calculus, especially differential equations, was a component of the state-of-the-art understanding of heat, light and sound at the time. ==Demarcation of science from religion== [[File:John Tyndall, 1872.jpg|thumb|224px|Tyndall caricatured as a preacher in [[Vanity Fair (British magazine 1868-1914)|Vanity Fair]], 1872]] The majority of the progressive and innovative British physicists of Tyndall's generation were conservative and orthodox on matters of religion. That includes for example [[James Joule]], [[Balfour Stewart]], [[James Clerk Maxwell]], [[George Gabriel Stokes]] and [[William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin|William Thomson]] — all names investigating heat or light contemporaneously with Tyndall. These conservatives believed, and sought to strengthen the basis for believing, that religion and science were consistent and harmonious with each other. Tyndall, however, was a member of a club that vocally supported Darwin's theory of evolution and sought to strengthen the barrier, or separation, between religion and science. The most prominent member of this club was the anatomist [[Thomas Henry Huxley]]. Tyndall first met Huxley in 1851 and the two had a lifelong friendship. Chemist [[Edward Frankland]] and mathematician [[Thomas Archer Hirst]], both of whom Tyndall had known since before going to university in Germany, were members too. Others included the social philosopher [[Herbert Spencer]]. See [[X-Club]]. Though not nearly so prominent as Huxley in controversy over philosophical problems, Tyndall played his part in communicating to the educated public the virtues of having a clear separation between science (knowledge & rationality) and religion (faith & spirituality). As the elected president of the [[British Association for the Advancement of Science]] in 1874, he gave a long [[keynote speech]] at the Association's annual meeting held that year in Belfast. The speech gave a favorable account of the history of evolutionary theories, mentioning Darwin's name favorably more than 20 times, and concluded by asserting that religious sentiment should not be permitted to "intrude on the region of ''knowledge'', over which it holds no command". This was a hot topic. The newspapers carried the report of it on their front pages — in the British Isles, North America, even the European Continent — and many critiques of it appeared soon after. The attention and scrutiny increased the friends of the evolutionists' philosophical position, and brought it closer to mainstream ascendancy.<ref>The text of Tyndall's 1874 ''Belfast Address'' is available at [http://www.victorianweb.org/science/science_texts/belfast.html Victorianweb.org]. This speech got more coverage in the Victorian-era newspapers than any other single public speech in the decades-long Victorian debate over the status of evolution theory. A review of the speech's reception by various London newspapers is at [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D06E4DE1E39EF34BC4D53DFBF66838F669FDE]. The great majority of London newspapers either endorsed Tyndall's position or took a neutral but respectful attitude towards it. Among other commentators the speech did have critics but a majority of these looked askance at subtleties and minor aspects (e.g., [http://www.gkbenterprises.org.uk/thesis/ch05.htm#fnote61anc], [http://www.archive.org/details/ideasinnatureove00mcco]); only a minority defended a role for religious belief in formation of knowledge. As the London ''Times'' put it when the speech was making front-page news: "It is probably part of the great change in the manners of this country that [the speech]... will now encounter little contradiction even in the most religious circles"[http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9501E1DE1E39EF34BC4F53DFBF66838F669FDE]. Among the exceptions, the Irish Catholic bishops decried it as paganism. Because the speech got widespread attention and little contradiction, and came from the Establishment post of the presidency of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, later historians have seen the speech as the "final victory" of the evolutionists in Victorian Britain ([http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=JWk5AAAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA257&lpg=RA1-PA257&dq=tyndall]).</ref> In Rome the Pope in 1864 decreed that it was an ''error'' that "reason is the ultimate standard by which man can and ought to arrive at knowledge" and an ''error'' that "divine revelation is imperfect" in the Bible — and anyone maintaining those errors was to be "[[anathematized]]" — and in 1888 decreed as follows: "The fundamental doctrine of rationalism is the supremacy of the human reason, which, refusing due submission to the divine and eternal reason, proclaims its own independence.... A doctrine of such character is most hurtful both to individuals and to the State.... It follows that it is quite unlawful to demand, to defend, or to grant, unconditional [or promiscuous] freedom of thought, speech, writing, or religion."<ref>Those quotations are from the [[s:The Syllabus of Errors|Syllabus of Errors]] decree (1864, Pope [[Pius IX]]) and the [http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/leo_xiii/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_20061888_libertas_en.html Libertas] decree (1888, Pope [[Leo XIII]]). The Libertas decree also says: [¶27, abridged] "The divine teaching of the Church brings the sure guidance of shining light. Therefore, there is no reason why true science should feel aggrieved at having to bear the restraint of laws by which, in the judgment of the Church, human teaching has to be controlled."</ref> Those principles and Tyndall's principles were profound enemies. Luckily for Tyndall he didn't need to get into a contest with them, in Britain, nor in most other parts of the world. Even in Italy, Huxley and Darwin were awarded honorary medals and most of the Italian governing class was hostile to the papacy.<ref>For Italy see [[Prisoner in the Vatican]]. Also see [http://books.google.com/books?id=5tieP7-FuYsC&pg=RA1-PA57&lpg=RA1-PA57&dq=%22the+pope+was+displeased+about+the+spread+of+Darwinism+in+Italy%22&source=bl&ots=4ZpMHdrkto&sig=Wa5ecyja50aNAkVLbZOzEdXbCMw&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result].</ref> But in Ireland during Tyndall's lifetime the majority of the population grew increasingly doctrinaire and vigorous in its Roman Catholicism and also grew stronger politically. It would've been a waste of everybody's time for Tyndall to debate the Irish Catholics, but he was active in the debate in England about whether to give the Catholics of Ireland more freedom to go their own way. Like the great majority of Irish-born scientists of the 19th century he opposed the [[Irish Home Rule]] movement. He had ardent views about it, which were published in newspapers and pamphlets.<ref>For a list of Tyndall's pamphlets against Irish Home Rule see both [http://www.amazon.co.uk/s?search-alias=stripbooks&field-author=tyndall&field-title=gladstone] and [http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Search/Home?lookfor=%28author%3AJohn+AND+author%3ATyndall%29+AND+%28subject%3A%22Ireland+-+Politics+and+government+-+1837-1901.%22+OR+subject%3A%22Great+Britain+-+Politics+and+government+-+1837-1901.%22%29&type=all&limits=format%3ABook&submit=Find]. One of the pamphlets, ''Mr. Gladstone's Sudden Reversal of Polarity'', documented how British Prime Minister [[William Ewart Gladstone|Gladstone]] did a [[Flip-flop (politics)|flip-flop]] on the Home Rule question. The intent was to undermine Gladstone's intellectual credibility on the question. Gladstone publicly defended himself against the attack. The debate between them got a lot of attention in the newspapers. Tyndall was a conspicuous participant in the Irish Home Rule debate in the London newspapers between 1886 and 1893. When he died in 1893, ''The Times'' newspaper obituary noted that "our readers will remember many eloquent letters written by him of late years, full of unsparing condemnation of Mr. Gladstone's recent [Ireland] policy." ([http://www.archive.org/details/eminentpersonsbi06timeiala]).</ref> For example in an opinion piece in ''[[The Times]]'' on 27 Dec 1890 he saw priests and Catholicism as "the heart and soul of this movement" and wrote that placing the non-Catholic minority under the dominion of "the priestly horde" would be "an unspeakable crime".<ref>More at [http://ia341238.us.archive.org/3/items/gladstoneireland00londiala/gladstoneireland00londiala.djvu]{{DjVulink}} (page 183).</ref> He tried unsuccessfully to get the UK's premier scientific society to denounce the Irish Home Rule proposal as contrary to the interests of science.<ref>The scientists of the British Isles were nearly unanimous in opposing Irish Home Rule, but, to Tyndall's disappointment, a majority of them also thought that the matter didn't have enough direct bearing on the vital interests of science to warrant an organized formal denunciation by them. See: {{Cite book | last = Jones | first = Greta | contribution = Scientists against Home Rule | editor1-last = Boyce | editor1-first = D. George | editor2-last = O'Day | editor2-first = Alan | title = Defenders of the Union: A Survey of British and Irish Unionism Since 1801 | pages = 188 &ndash; 208 | publisher = Routledge | place = London | year = 2001 | contribution-url = http://books.google.ie/books?id=LO-KXwPEDYIC&pg=PA188| accessdate = }}.</ref> In several essays included in his book ''Fragments of Science for Unscientific People'', Tyndall attempted to dissuade people from believing in the potential effectiveness of prayers. At the same time, though, he was not broadly anti-religious, and his writings leave no straightforward evidence that he was not a Christian or at least a [[Deist]].<ref>The collection of Tyndall's essays where his views on religion are most clearly stated is ''[http://ia340902.us.archive.org/2/items/fragmscience02tyndrich/fragmscience02tyndrich.djvu Fragments of Science Volume Two]''{{DjVulink}}.</ref><ref>For a review of how Tyndall demarcated science from religion, marshalling quotes from Tyndall, see {{Cite book | last = Gieryn | first = Thomas F. | contribution = John Tyndall's Double Boundary-Work | title = Cultural Boundaries of Science | pages = 37 &ndash; 64 | publisher = The University of Chicago Press | place = | year = 1999 | contribution-url = http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=GljD3CHbDx0C&pg=PA37 | accessdate = }}.</ref> ==Private life== [[Image:Tyndall John standing.jpg|thumb|200px|John Tyndall]] Tyndall did not marry until age 55. His bride, Louisa Hamilton, who he had first met in the Alps, was the 30-year-old daughter of a member of parliament ([[Lord Claud Hamilton (1813–1884)|Lord Claud Hamilton, M.P.]]). The following year, 1877, they built a summer [[chalet]] at [[Belalp]] in the Swiss Alps. Before getting married Tyndall had been living for many years in an upstairs apartment at the Royal Institution and continued living there after marriage until 1885 when a move was made to a house near [[Haslemere]] 45 miles southwest of London. The marriage was a happy one and without children. He retired from the Royal Institution at age 66 having complaints of ill health. Tyndall became financially well-off from sales of his popular books and fees from his lectures (but there is no evidence that he owned commercial patents). For many years he got non-trivial payments for being a part-time scientific advisor to a couple of quasi-governmental agencies and partly donated the payments to charity. His successful lecture tour of the United States in 1872 brought him a substantial amount of dollars, which he promptly donated to a trustee for fostering science in America.<ref>[[s:Popular Science Monthly/Volume 3/May 1873/Professor Tyndall's Deed of Trust|Popular Science Monthly, May 1873]]. Also [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=980CE1DF173AEF33A2575BC0A9619C94649FD7CF ''The New York Times'', 8 July 1885].</ref> Late in life his money donations went most visibly to the [[Irish Unionist]] political cause.<ref>[http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9407E6D81538E233A25756C2A9609C94639ED7CF ''The New York Times'', 25 June 1892].</ref> When he died, his wealth was £22122.<ref>The value of Tyndall's estate at [[probate]] was £22122 as reported in the biography of John Tyndall by W. M. Brock in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (2004).</ref> For comparison's sake, the income of a police constable in London was about £80 per year at the time.<ref>Source: page 10 of [http://www.clarku.edu/faculty/jbrown/papers/shpayer.pdf].</ref> In his last years Tyndall often took [[chloral hydrate]] to treat his [[insomnia]]. When bedridden and ailing, he died from an accidental<ref>In late years he was taking magnesia for dyspepsia and chloral hydrate for insomnia. His wife, who administered the drugs, accidentally gave him none of the former and a lethal overdose of the latter. A newspaper report of Mrs. Tyndall's testimony at the coroner's inquest: {{cite news | author = Staff | date = 1893-12-25 | title = Mrs. Tyndall's Fatal Error | publisher = The New York Times (1893) | url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F00E4D9173EEF33A25756C2A9649D94629ED7CF}}</ref> overdose of this drug at age 73, and was buried at [[Haslemere]].<ref>{{cite journal | title = Obituary Notice of John Tyndall | author = E. F. | journal = Proceedings of the Royal Society of London | year = 1894 | volume = 55 | pages = xviii - xxxiv| url = http://ia341328.us.archive.org/2/items/proceedingsroya27britgoog/proceedingsroya27britgoog.djvu | format = {{DjVulink}} }}</ref> Afterwards, Tyndall's wife took possession of his papers and assigned herself as supervisor of an official biography of him. She dragged her feet on the project, however, and it was still unfinished when she died in 1940 aged 95.<ref>Louisa Tyndall wanted a collaborator, but was unsatisfied with all candidates. Later, according to Crowther, she would only accept one who would live in her own house, and none such was found. {{cite book | author = Crowther, J. G. | title = Scientific Types | year = 1968 | publisher = Barrie & Rockliff, The Crescent Press Ltd. | location = London | pages = 187 &ndash; 188}}</ref> The book eventually appeared in 1945, written by A. S. Eve and C. H. Creasey, whom Louisa Tyndall had authorized shortly before her death. ==John Tyndall's books== * The Glaciers of the Alps (470 pages) (1860) * Heat as a Mode of Motion (550 pages) (1863; revised later editions) * On Radiation: One Lecture (40 pages) (1865)<ref>The short book ''On Radiation'' (1865) was wholly incorporated into the long book ''Fragments of Science'' (1871).</ref> * Sound: A Course of Eight Lectures (350 pages) (1867; revised later editions) * Faraday as a Discoverer (180 pages) (1868) * Natural Philosophy in Easy Lessons (180 pages) (1869) (a book intended for use in secondary schools) * Three Scientific Addresses by Prof. John Tyndall (75 pages) (1870)<ref>The short book ''Scientific Addresses'' was published in America only. It consisted of three speeches delivered in Britain 1868-1870. Partly published in Britain in the short book entitled ''Essays on the Use and Limit of the Imagination in Science''. Some of this material got republished in the ''Fragments of Science'' collection.</ref> * Notes of a Course of Nine Lectures on Light (80 pages) (1870) * Notes of a Course of Seven Lectures on Electrical Phenomena and Theories (50 pages) (1870) * Researches on Diamagnetism and Magne-crystallic Action (380 pages) (1870) (a compilation of early research reports) * Hours of Exercise in the Alps (450 pages) (1871) * Fragments of Science: A Series of Detached Essays, Lectures, and Reviews (over 500 pages) (1871; expanded later editions) * The Forms of Water in Clouds and Rivers, Ice and Glaciers (200 pages) (1872) * Contributions to Molecular Physics in the Domain of Radiant Heat (450 pages) (1872) (a compilation of research reports) * Six Lectures on Light (290 pages) (1873) * Lessons in Electricity at the Royal Institution (100 pages) (1876) * Essays on the Floating-matter of the Air in relation to Putrefaction and Infection (360 pages) (1881) * New Fragments (500 pages) (1892) ''All of the above books can be freely downloaded at [http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=%28%22john%20tyndall%22%29%20OR%20%28%22tyndall%2C%20john%22%29%20AND%20mediatype%3Atexts Archive.org].''<br /> ''Nearly all of them are in print and can be [http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_adv_b/?search-alias=stripbooks&unfiltered=1&field-author=john+tyndall&field-p_n_condition-type=1294423011&field-feature_browse-bin=618083011&field-binding_browse-bin=&sort=daterank&Adv-Srch-Books-Submit.x=27&Adv-Srch-Books-Submit.y=12 bought new].'' ==Biographies of John Tyndall== * {{cite book | author=Eve, A.S. & Creasey, C.H. | title=Life and Work of John Tyndall | year=1945 | publisher=Macmillan | location=London }} 430 pages. This is the "official" biography. * William T. Jeans wrote a 100-page biography of Professor Tyndall in 1887 (the year Tyndall retired from the Royal Institution). It is available [http://ia311017.us.archive.org/1/items/livesofelectrici00jean/livesofelectrici00jean.djvu here] {{DjVulink}} * Louisa Charlotte Tyndall, his wife, wrote an 8-page biography of John Tyndall that appeared in 1903 as the preface to one of his books. Available [http://ia331412.us.archive.org/2/items/lecturesessays00tyndiala/lecturesessays00tyndiala.djvu here] {{DjVulink}} * [[Edward Frankland]] wrote a 16-page biography of John Tyndall as an obituary in 1894 in a British scientific journal. The journal volume is available [http://ia341328.us.archive.org/2/items/proceedingsroya27britgoog/proceedingsroya27britgoog.djvu here] {{DjVulink}} * D. Thompson in ''Journal of Vocational Education & Training'', volume 9:18, pages 38–48, year 1957, has an article entitled "John Tyndall (1820-1893): A study in vocational enterprise" which gives an account of Tyndall's vocational development prior to 1853. Available [http://www.informaworld.com/index/780955820.pdf here]. *{{cite book | author=Brock, W.H., et al. | year=1981 | title=John Tyndall, Essays on a Natural Philosopher | publisher=Royal Dublin Society | location=Dublin }} 220 pages. * Arthur Whitmore Smith, a professor of physics, wrote a 10-page biography of John Tyndall in 1920 in an American scientific monthly. Available [http://ia341030.us.archive.org/1/items/contributions05michuoft/contributions05michuoft.djvu here (page 91)] {{DjVulink}} * [[John Walter Gregory]], a naturalist, wrote a nine-page obituary of John Tyndall in 1894 in the monthly journal "''Natural Science''". The journal volume is [http://www.archive.org/details/naturalscience041894lond here]. * An early, seven-page profile of John Tyndall appeared in 1864 in ''Portraits of Men of Eminence in Literature, Science and Art'' (volume II). Available [http://ia341214.us.archive.org/1/items/portraitsofmenof02reev/portraitsofmenof02reev.djvu here] {{DjVulink}} * A one-page profile of Tyndall, based on information supplied by Tyndall himself, appeared in 1874 in the weekly magazine ''Nature''. Available [http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/HistSciTech/HistSciTech-idx?type=article&did=HISTSCITECH.NATURE18740820.HELMH01&id=HistSciTech.Nature18740820&isize=L here]. * ''John Tyndall as a Mountaineer'', 56-page essay by [[Claud Schuster, 1st Baron Schuster|Claud Schuster]]. Included in Schuster's book ''Postscript to Adventure'' New Alpine Library Eyre & Spottiswoode London 1950. ==See also== * [[Ice sheet dynamics]] * [[Spontaneous generation]] * [[:File:TyndallsSetupForMeasuringRadiantHeatAbsorptionByGases_annotated.jpg|John Tyndall's system for measuring radiant heat absorption in gases]] ==Footnotes== {{Reflist}} ==External links== {{commons|John Tyndall|John Tyndall}} {{wikiquote}} {{Wikisource|John Tyndall}} * [http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/general/history/JTyndall_biog_doc.pdf Description of John Tyndall’s Research on Trace Gases and Climate] * [http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=%28%22john%20tyndall%22%29%20OR%20%28%22tyndall%2C%20john%22%29%20AND%20mediatype%3Atexts Works by John Tyndall] at [[Internet Archive]] * [http://transcribingtyndall.wordpress.com/ A blog maintained by a historian who is involved in transcribing Tyndall's letters]. {{DEFAULTSORT:Tyndall, John}} [[Category:1820 births]] [[Category:1893 deaths]] [[Category:Experimental physicists]] [[Category:University of Marburg alumni]] [[Category:Scientific instrument makers]] [[Category:British physicists]] [[Category:Glaciologists]] [[Category:British mountain climbers]] [[Category:People from County Carlow]] [[Category:Royal Medal winners]] [[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]] [[Category:Drug-related deaths in England]] [[bg:Джон Тиндал]] [[ca:John Tyndall]] [[de:John Tyndall]] [[es:John Tyndall]] [[fr:John Tyndall]] [[id:John Tyndall]] [[it:John Tyndall]] [[pl:John Tyndall]] [[pt:John Tyndall]] [[ru:Тиндаль, Джон]] [[sl:John Tyndall]] [[fi:John Tyndall]] [[sv:John Tyndall]]'