Mrs. Eddy Mentioned Them May 14, 1960 Issue

John Tyndall, 1820–1893

[Mentioned in Miscellaneous Writings, p. 361, and in Miscellany, p. 349]

John Tyndall, physicist, was born in Ireland of an old Protestant family. His father provided as fine an education as he could for his son, who excelled in mathematics. After spending several years in ordnance survey work in Ireland and in England, he taught mathematics and surveying at Queenwood College. After the long hours of his previous jobs, he had studied drawing and French; now he began to attend lectures on chemistry and geology and was so fascinated that he determined to go to Germany to obtain more knowledge. In two years he obtained his doctorate.

When he was thirty-three, Tyndall was made professor of natural philosophy at the Royal Institution. He had already met Faraday, but he now became his close associate and friend. Tyndall's contract for nineteen lectures at the Institution left him time for research and opportunity to meet other eminent men. Among his intimate friends were Huxley, Spencer, Tennyson, and Garble. All the time his activities were broadening; they included an editorship on the Philosophical Magazine, lectures for the London Institution, professorship of physics at the School of Alines, and studies of the glaciers of the Alps. He was the seventh man ever to reach the summit of the Matterhorn. Through studies of the glaciers, he was led to investigate atmospheric phenomena, especially vapors. This, in turn, led to researches on radiant heat and its transmission, radiation, and absorption by vapors.

In 1867 Tyndall succeeded Faraday as Resident Director of the Royal Institution and as scientific adviser to Trinity House, the latter was in charge of the lighthouse service. Research on the audibility of sounds and development of the sensitive flame followed.

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