The Ascent of John Tyndall
Victorian Scientist, Mountaineer, and Public Intellectual
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
John Tyndall was a leading scientific figure in Victorian Britain, who established the physical basis of the greenhouse effect, and why the sky is blue. This rich biography describes the colourful life and achievements of this brilliant communicator, physicist, and mountaineer, who ascended from humble beginnings to the heart of Victorian society.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
With this exhaustive and, at times, exhausting work, Jackson (The Correspondence of John Tyndall, editor), head of London's Science Museum, attempts to revive appreciation for Victorian scientist John Tyndall (1822 1893). Unfortunately for Tyndall and unlike some of his acquaintances, such as Charles Darwin he has no singular accomplishment to recommend him. He was the first to posit a correct but incomplete answer to the question "Why is the sky blue?" and was one of the first scientists to find that atmospheric gases absorb radiation, but it fell to others to expand on these discoveries. Tyndall was also an avid mountain climber, which led him to a greater understanding of glaciers and many summers spent in the Alps. While these and other aspects of Tyndall's career, such as his championing of germ theory, may be of interest to science buffs, Jackson spends too much time on minutiae. Page after page is devoted to the dinners Tyndall attended and even what was served, subjects and audience size at ongoing lecture series, and other quotidian details. Tyndall was certainly a major figure of his day, but Jackson's biography is unlikely to persuade a modern audience of his continued importance.
