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Birth
Born in Leighlin Bridge, Ireland. On August 2, 1820. John Tyndall was a Mountaineer, Physicist, and Lecturer. -
Mountain Man
An Avid mountaineer. John Tyndall spent 30s studying Glaciers and Glacial movement. (Side note, There are two mountains named after him and craters and both the moon and mars.) Source: “John Tyndall.” Encyclopedia.com, Encyclopedia.com, 18 Aug. 2020, www.encyclopedia.com/people/science-and-technology/physics-biographies/john-tyndall.
Picture: “Mount Tyndall.” Wikipedia, 22 July 2009, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mount_Tyndall.jpg. -
Heat and Gas
Studied the effects of heat radiation on various gases (to include water vapor, carbon dioxide and ozone.) Discovered that water vapor and carbon dioxide were the best at absorbing heat radiation. Considered those gases to be the most important for maintaining Earth's surface temperature. Source: Jackson, Roland. “John Tyndall: the Forgotten Co-Discoverer of Climate Science.” Phys.org, Phys.org, 31 July 2020, phys.org/news/2020-07-john-tyndall-forgotten-co-discoverer-climate.html. -
The First Rule of X Club is...
Part of a private club (X Club) that favored science over Theological beliefs. They defended Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. Tyndall was accused of atheism after his address (The Belfast Address) to the British Association for the Advancement of Science. Spoke out against spontaneous generation. Demonstrated that food does not decay in germ free air. -
Mr. Blue Sky
Explained why the sky is blue (Sort of). The Tyndall effect scatters blue light in a way similar to the Rayleigh effect. He also created a device that used water to bend sun beams, a precursor to Fiber optics. Here is a video demonstration using lasers instead of the sun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNp-uM3fvR8
Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D. “Understand the Tyndall Effect in Chemistry.” ThoughtCo, 3 Feb. 2020, www.thoughtco.com/definition-of-tyndall-effect-605756. -
"You killed your John."
Died December 4, 1893 in Hindhead, England when he was given an overdose of medicine by his wife.
