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John Tyndall's Birth
Tyndall was born August 2, 1820 in Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow, Ireland. -
Diamagnetism
John Tyndall in collaboration with Hermann Knoblauch begin their work on diamagnetism. Tyndall's work was an extension of Faraday's discovery of diamagnetism. Diamagnetism is the magnetic property of matter. Tyndall's contribution to this phenomenon made him a "physicist to be reckoned with" (Jackson). Tyndall helped develop the current "understanding of magnetism, polarity, matter and force" (Jackson). -
Discovery of the Absorption of Radiant Heat by Gases
After only a few days work, Tyndall immediately announced it in a Discourse at the Royal Institution. After a series of further experiments, in 1861 he announced his observation specifically of the absorption of heat by water vapour and carbon dioxide. This is commonly known as the first mention or discovery of the green house effect. Though Euncie Foote a female scientist first mentioned it in 1856. Pictured is the apparatus that he built for his experiments (Jackson). -
Tyndall Effect
https://youtu.be/8Xcpq6e8pBY
This YouTube video demonstrates the Tyndall Effect. Tyndall extended the research of optics after meeting with his colleague Michael Faraday at London's Royal Institution. Tyndall Effect is the diffraction of light when it is passed through a colloidal suspension with many small particles. This would describe why the sky is blue when the sun's light reflects off of the particles in the atmosphere (Davidson). -
Tyndallization
In 1883 Tyndall published the book "Essays on the floating-matter of the air in relation to putrefaction and infection." In it he describes his experimentation using a self built, aseptically designed box to demonstrate that dust carried germs. He discovered that prolonged boiling or intermittent heating was necessary to kill "highly resistant bacterial structure, later known as endospore"((Aryal et al.). -
Strange Death
Tyndall died on a cold day in Hasslemere, London. The seventy-three year old was suffering from intestinal issues and insomnia. At the time he was taking sulphate of magnesia form his intestinal issues and chloral hydrate for insomnia. At around 8:30 this particular morning, he requested that his wife give him a spoonful of the magnesia. Instead she accidentally gave him the chloral hydrate instead. The high dosage ended up killing him (Reidy).
