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John Tyndall- Birth: August 2, 1820
John Tyndall, born August 2nd, 1820 in Leighlinbridge, County Carlow, Ireland, was an outstanding physicist, making breakthroughs in the Victorian era in atmospheric science. Tyndall was a land surveyor in his early years and later became a college professor at Queenwood College in Hampshire, England. Tyndall paved the way for the concept of the greenhouse effect and climate change. -
John Tyndall- Water Vapor Related to Climate Change: January 1859
In January 1859 Tyndall had been experimenting with radiative properties of various gasses and discovered that “water vapor is the strongest absorber of radiant heat and is therefore the most important gas controlling Earth's surface temperature” (Graham 1). Later Tyndall speculated that this may relate to climate change.
(Graham, Steven, “John Tyndall”, Oct 8th, 1999, NASA Earth Observatory, https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/Tyndall) -
John Tyndall- Religion and Knowledge, 1869
In 1869 John Tyndall advocated that religion should not be permitted to intrude on “objective knowledge, over which it holds no command” (Gieryn, 47). This was a bold statement at the time, confronting theological beliefs that society held close to its core of philosophy.
(Thomas F. Gieryn, Cultural Boundaries of Science: Credibility on the Line, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 1999, Google Books, https://books.google.com/books?id=GljD3CHbDx0C&pg=PA37#v=onepage&q&f=false) -
John Tyndall- Death: Dec 4, 1893
Towards the end of Tyndall’s life, his health was declining. Tyndall took magnesia for his indigestion and chloryl to help him sleep at night. Tragically his wife Louisa had mixed up the two and given him a large dose of chloral instead of magnesia. John overdosed on chloral on December 4th, 1893.
(Hennessy, James & Haran, Brady, “The Accidental Death of John Tyndall- Objectivity 93”, Uploaded by Objectivity, Nov 1st, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObZ_ymaM4BY&ab_channel=Objectivity)