Tyndall, John (1820–93)

JOHN TYNDALL WAS born in Leighlinbridge, County Carlow, in Ireland on August 2, 1820. After working as a surveyor and a mathematics teacher, he attended the University of Marburg in Germany, where he received his Ph.D. In 1854, he became a professor of natural philosophy at the Royal Institution in London (a scientific research center founded in 1799). In 1867, he was made superintendent of the institution, taking over from Michael Faraday.

Tyndall's most well-known scientific studies included the nature of sound, light, and radiant heat and observations on the structure and movement of glaciers. Glaciers had become a scientific area of interest during that time because in the 1830s, Louis Agassiz (considered the father of glaciology) had discovered that a large portion of Europe and ...