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John Tyndall

  • Early Life

    John Tyndall was an Irish Physicist. His early work in Physics were experiments on magnetism and diamagnetic polarity from 1850-1856. His two most influential reports were co-authored with Knoblauch- "The magneto-optic properties of crystals, and the relation of magnetism and diamagnetism to molecular arrangement". These and other magnetic investigations made Tyndall known among the leading scientists of the day.
  • Glaciology

    Glaciology
    Tyndall visited the Alps mountains in 1856 to study glaciers and glacier motion. He also became a pioneering mountain climber and is one the names associated with the "Golden age of alpinism" — the mid-Victorian years when the more difficult of the Alpine peaks were climbed for the first time.
  • Greenhouse Effect

    Greenhouse Effect
    In 1856, he used a Ratio Spectrophotometer to show coal gas and ether strongly absorbed radiant heat. His experimental confirmation of the (greenhouse effect) concept; that solar heat crosses an atmosphere, but "when the heat is absorbed by the planet, it is so changed in quality that the rays emanating from the planet cannot get with the same freedom back into space.
  • Legacy

    Legacy
    Tyndall became financially well-off from sales of his popular books and fees from his lectures. His successful lecture tour of the United States in 1872 netted him a substantial amount of dollars, which he donated to a trustee for fostering science in America.
    John Tyndall is commemorated by a memorial erected on the mountain slopes in sight of the Aletsch Glacier.