John Tyndall (1820-1893)

By McKiernan

  • Early education and career

    John Tyndall was born on August 2 1820 in Ireland. Tyndall start work as in land surveying and employed by railroad companies until 1847. He would go onto to study chemistry and physics at the University of Marburg in Germany. Some of his earliest scientific would be in magnetism. During his study of Glaciers, he would also become an accomplished mountaineer. Barton, R. (2020, July 29). John Tyndall. Retrieved August 24, 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Tyndall

  • The Greenhouse Effect

    Tyndall began experiments on radiant energy and would demonstrate the ability of certain gases to absorb terrestrial heat from the Earth. He measured the properties of nitrogen, oxygen, methane, ozone, carbon dioxide, and water vapor to absorb radiant heat after being reflected from the Earth’s surface. These experiments demonstrated the “Greenhouse Effect.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPJJM_hCFj0 John Tyndall. (2020, August 23). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tyndall

  • The Tyndall Effect

    During the 1860s, while conducting experiments of radiant heat, John Tyndall discovered that light is scattered through impurities in the Earth’s atmosphere. This find explains why the sky appears blue. He would exploit the “Tyndall Effect” in other experiments. John Tyndall. (2020, August 23). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tyndall

  • Calorescence

    Tyndall developed experiments to demonstrate how heat is emitted from a chemical reaction. He defined the conversion of infrared light into visible light as calorescence. John Tyndall. (2020, August 23). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tyndall

  • Death and Legacy

    By the time of his John Tyndall was an accomplished scientist and educator. He wrote over a hundred papers on his research alone and several other works to include popular books on climbing. His work in infrared light would be key to our understanding of how emissions affect global warming and climate change. John Tyndall. (2020, August 23). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tyndall