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Birth of John Tyndall
Born in south eastern Ireland to John Tyndall Sr. And Sarah Tyndall. Despite being a poor family in this time, John Tyndall Jr. Did well with his education and pursued his career further. He is known as the son of a shoemaker. This reputation did not give high expectations from others in his community- historically speaking he was one of the most well established climate change researchers in history. His discoveries impact us daily. -
Diamagnetism
After receiving his degree of Doctor of Philosophy Tyndall worked on magnetic properties of crystal and the relation of magnetism and diamagnetism on molecular structure. Tyndall discovered that the action of crystals in a magnetic field was produced by attraction and retraction. Producing torque which determined what position the crystal took (Smith, 333) -
Elected to Royal Society
John Tyndall was elected to the Royal Society in Britain among some of his well known peers. They gathered together to further their discoveries and to support one another in their research in the sciences. The royal society that John was elected to still stands today to ‘is to recognise, promote, and support excellence in science and to encourage the development and use of science for the benefit of humanity.’ (Royal, 1) -
Achievements
In 1853, Tyndall was awarded the Royal Medal
In 1864, Tyndall received the Rumford Medal by the Royal Society “Who Was John Tyndall? Everything You Need to Know.” Childhood, Life Achievements & Timeline, (2017) -
Discovery of climate
Tyndall discovered in his experiments in 1859 at the Brunson school for his PhD. That ‘his laboratory experiments showed that water vapour and carbon dioxide absorb infra-red radiation and that they could therefore affect the climate of the Earth.’ It was this discovery that led to his writing in the ‘Proceedings of the Royal Society’ in 1861 that truly ignited his career and his field of influence.
Video explanation- https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fYqdKiT0Eqo -
The Tyndall effect
Tyndall experimented on the scattering of light explaining that when a light wave strikes particle in the air they are scattered. He also discovered that longer wavelengths are more transmitted while shorter wavelengths are diffusely reflected. It explains why a beam of light can be seen from car headlights in foggy conditions the light waves are scattered from the water particle in the fog. Below is a link to a short video that explains the Tyndall Effect. -
Death of John Tyndall
John Tyndall used a drug for insomnia called chloral hydrate. John Tyndall died at the age of 73, December 4th, 1893 from an overdose administered by his wife. Tyndall was bed-ridden and realized what his wife had done, and said "My darling, you have killed your John." Thompson, Valerie. “A Long-Awaited Biography Does Justice to John Tyndall, a Pioneering Climate Researcher and Science Advocate.”
