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John Tyndall's Birth and Early Life
John Tyndall was born August 2nd, 1820, in Leighlinbridge, County Carlow, Ireland, to a poor protestant family and had a basic education growing up. From 1839 to 1847 John worked as a surveyor in both Ireland and England. In 1848 he decided to spend his life savings in order to earn his Ph.D from the University of Marburg, Germany (1848–50). Barton, Ruth. “John Tyndall.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/biography/John-Tyndall. -
Greenhouse Gas
In 1859 John Tyndall was hired as professor of natural philosophy at the Royal Institution, London. While there he developed the first ratio spectrophotometer in order to measure the absorptive properties of gases in the atmosphere. Tyndall's research is the basis for the Greenhouse effect and what would later be known as the Tyndall Effect. Graham, Steve. “John Tyndall.” NASA, NASA, earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/Tyndall. Paul Wilkinson. Tyndall's spectrophotometer. -
Heat and Sound
In 1863 John Tyndall gave a series of 12 lectures all about heat to the Royal Institution of Great Britain with the intent to " bring the rudiments of a new philosophy within the reach of a person of ordinary intelligence and culture."(Tyndall 1863). In 1867 Tyndall a similar series of lectures all about Sound. This link describes one of his experiments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agFBsON_Fpc John Tyndall. "Heat Considered as a Mode of Motion." 1863. Royal Institution of Great Britain. -
John Tyndall's Death(Citation)
Hume, Robert. “Our Scientific Genius Tyndall Who Was Accidentally Murdered by His Wife.” Irish Examiner, 4 Dec. 2013, www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/arid-20251517.html. -
John Tyndall's Death
Every night John Tyndall would take chloral to help with his insomnia, and every other morning he would take magnesia to help with his stomach. On December 4th 1893, John Tyndall was accidentally killed by his wife when she accidentally gave him chloral again in the morning, instead of the magnesia. This caused John to overdose and die. After that she devoted her life to writing his biography.