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Born
John Tyndall was born in Leighlin Bridge, Carlow Country, Ireland. His parents were immigrants and his Father was a local police officer. -
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John Tyndall's Life
John Tyndall was a 19th Century Physicist. His discoveries include Diamagnetism, Infrared Radiation and most importantly the Greenhouse effect. -
Fellow of the Royal Society
John Tyndall wrote two influential reports in his early years. One of them was titled "The magneto-optic properties of crystals, and the relation of magnetism and diamagnetism to molecular arrangement", dated May 1850. This helped to make him one of the leading Scientist of his day and led to him being elected as Fellow of the Royal Society. It also allowed him to succeed Michael Farady at the Royal instituion in 1862. -
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Professor of Physics at Royal Institution of Great Britain
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Alpine Mountaineering and glaciology
John Tyndall is one of the names associated with the "Golden Age of Alpinism"- the years when the more difficult Alpine peaks were summited for the first time. He was on one of the first expeditionaries to summit the Matterhorn. Tyndall Glacier in Chile, and Colorado along with Mount Tyndall in California and Tasmania were named after this famous Scientist. It would be interesting to get his take on todays Global Warming and it's direct affect on Glaciers today. -
Infrared Radiation and the Greenhouse effect.
Tyndall explained that the Earth's atmosphere absorbed heat in the form of infrared radiation. This was one of the earliest benchmarks in the study of absorption spectroscopy of gases. He determined that water vapour is the strongest absorber of radiant heat in the atmosphere and is the principal gas controlling air temperature. I equated this to the more humidity the warmer it feels, which holds true in Florida to this day. -
Death
To fight insomnia John Tyndall often took chloral hydrate. He died from an accidental overdose administered by his wife Louisa. His last words were " My darling, you have killed your John". He is commemorated by a memorial erected at 7,680 feet on a mountain slope above the village of Belalp in sight of the ALetsch Glacier.
