John Tyndall

John Tyndall
John Tyndall (1820–1893) was an Irish physicist and writer known for his work on atmospheric physics and light scattering. He is credited with explaining why the sky is blue through his studies on the scattering of light, now called the Tyndall effect. Tyndall authored several popular science books, including "Fragments of Science" and "Heat as a Mode of Motion," aimed at bringing complex scientific ideas to a wider audience. He was also a strong advocate for scientific education and promoted the role of empirical evidence in understanding nature.

Author's Books:


§ 1. Introduction. Some twelve years ago I published, in England, a little book entitled the 'Glaciers of the Alps,' and, a couple of years subsequently, a second book, entitled 'Heat a Mode of Motion.' These volumes were followed by others, written with equal plainness, and with a similar aim, that aim being to develop and deepen sympathy between science and the world outside of... more...

Chapter 1. Parentage: introduction to the royal institution: earliestexperiments: first royal society paper: marriage. It has been thought desirable to give you and the world some image of MICHAEL FARADAY, as a scientific investigator and discoverer. The attempt to respond to this desire has been to me a labour of difficulty, if also a labour of love. For however well acquainted I may be with the... more...

I. THE CONSTITUTION OF NATURE. [Footnote: 'Fortnightly Review,' 1865, vol. iii. p. 129.] WE cannot think of space as finite, for wherever in imagination we erect a boundary, we are compelled to think of space as existing beyond it. Thus by the incessant dissolution of limits we arrive at a more or less adequate idea of the infinity of space. But, though compelled to think of space as... more...

PREFACE. In the following work I have not attempted to mix Narrative and Science, believing that the mind once interested in the one, cannot with satisfaction pass abruptly to the other. The book is therefore divided into Two Parts: the first chiefly narrative, and the second chiefly scientific. In Part I. I have sought to convey some notion of the life of an Alpine explorer, and of the means by which... more...