Tyndall foto

John Tyndall

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  • Born

    Leighlinbridge, County Carlow, Ireland

  • Hired as Professor of Natural Philosophy

    At the the Royal Institution of Great Britain in London.

  • Tyndall Effect

    While trying to purify air for experimentation, Tyndall used intense light to help identify particulates in the air that would give off visible light. This is know as the Tyndall Effect.

  • The "Rede" Lecture / Greenhouse Effect

    Tyndall delivered a lecture to the senate house before the University of Cambridge. Tyndall had described concepts in the visible and invisible light found in the natural world and lead to infrared and the visible detection of heat radiation. These experiments allowed for the first proof of the Greenhouse effect
    Tyndall, John. On Radiation. Appleton and Company, 1865.

  • The Prayer Gauge Debate

    Tyndall believed that the efficiency of prayer could be tested by a simple experiment which would include two medical wards, in one the patients would be seen by doctors and treated as usual, in the other there would only be "prayer" treatment. To conclude, which ever ward had a higher rate of rehabilitation, would prove the efficiency of prayer. This was never conducted, but started a heated debate. Tyndall, John, et al. The Prayer-Gauge Debate. Congregational Publishing Society, 1876.

  • Molecular Physics

    While demonstrating powers of radiation and heat, Tyndall attempted to expose what exactly molecules were. He is noted as one of the first to delve into true molecular physics. Tyndall, John. Contributions to Molecular Physics in the Domain of Radiant Heat. Appleton and Company, 1873.

  • Belfast Address

    During the address Tyndall caused an uproar by stating defined separation between religion and science. His words help shape the boundaries for theology and science, helping make modern science what it is today. Lightman, Bernard. “On Tyndall’s Belfast Address, 1874.” BRANCH: Britain, Representation and Nineteenth-Century History. Ed. Dino Franco Felluga. Extension of Romanticism and Victorianism on the Net. Web.

  • Died

    Hindhead, Surrey, England