John Tyndall From LoveToKnow 1911 JOHN TYNDALL (1820-1893), British natural philosopher, was born in Co. Carlow Ireland , on the 2nd of August 1820, his father being the son of a small landowner in poor circumstances, but a man of more than ordinary ability. With Darwin and Huxley his name is inseparably connected with the battle which began in the middle of the 19th century for making the new standpoint of modern science part of the accepted philosophy in general life. For many years, indeed, he came to represent to ordinary Englishmen the typical or ideal professor of physics. His strong, picturesque mode of seizing and expressing things gave him an immense living influence both in speech and writing, and disseminated a popular knowledge of physical science such as had not previously existed. But besides being a true educator, and perhaps the greatest popular teacher of natural philosophy in his generation, he was an earnest and original observer and explorer of nature. Tyndall was to a large extent a self-made man; he had no early advantages, but with indomitable earnestness devoted himself to study, to which he was stimulated by the writings of Carlyle. He passed from a national school in Co. Carlow to a minor post (1839) in the Irish ordnance survey, thence (1842) to the English survey, attending | |
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