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Early Life
John Tyndall was a well known Irish physicist in the 19th-century. Born on August 02, 1820 in Ireland, John Tyndall was the son of constable. At an early age he showed signs of being an excellent student, and began to work different jobs. From surveying land in England to working on railway construction during the 1840s, and later teaching at Queenwood College in Hampshire; John Tyndall was a man of many talents. Tyndall went to Germany in 1848 to study and later would earn a PhD at Marburg. -
Radiative Properties of Gases
John Tyndall's influence was not limited to one field of study. In 1859, he began experimentations with different gases and introduced the first ratio spectrophotometer to the scientific community. Tyndall measured the differences in the absorptive powers of different gases. He hypothesized that water vapor helps sustain the surface temperature on the planet. The graph in this slide shows the gases found in Earth's atmosphere and the percentage of radiation that they absorb. -
Science and Religion
Science and religion have a deep and intertwined history. Philosophers used science as a means to explain how the world works. John Tyndall strongly believed in evolution and addressed the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1874. The Belfast address has been known by some as the “chief pronouncement of materialism of the nineteenth century.” (Ungureanu). Natural law and rationalism were used to denounce religion and explain which direction should be headed. -
Video
Here's a video about John Tyndall. Hopefully it gives you more insight about his work and the impact he had on the scientific community.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53tFu9unKhQ) -
Citations
Graham, Steve. “John Tyndall (1820-1893).” Earth Observatory. 08 Oct, 1999. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/Tyndall. Accessed 23 Oct, 2020.
Ungureanu, James PhD. John Tyndall, the pantheist. https://jamescungureanu.com/2013/12/16/john-tyndall-the-pantheist/. Accessed 23 Oct, 2020. Wyhe, John. "John Tydnall (1820-1893)." The Victorian Web. 12 Dec, 2016. http://www.victorianweb.org/science/tyndall.htm. Accessed 24 Oct, 2020.
