The Ascent of John Tyndall

Victorian Scientist, Mountaineer, and Public Intellectual

Roland Jackson

Paints a detailed portrait of John Tyndall and his world in this first major biography for over 70 years
Describes both Tyndall's scientific achievements and his major mountaineering expeditions
Draws extensively on journals, letters, literary articles, and scientific publications of the time
Captures the intellectual life of mid-Victorian Britain through Tyndall's interactions with figures such as Faraday, Huxley, Pasteur, Carlyle, and Tennyson

The Ascent of John Tyndall

Victorian Scientist, Mountaineer, and Public Intellectual

Roland Jackson

Description

Rising from a humble background in rural southern Ireland, John Tyndall became one of the foremost physicists, communicators of science, and polemicists in mid-Victorian Britain. In science, he is known for his important work in meteorology, climate science, magnetism, acoustics, and bacteriology. His discoveries include the physical basis of the warming of the Earth's atmosphere (the basis of the greenhouse effect), and establishing why the sky is blue. But he was also a leading communicator of science, drawing great crowds to his lectures at the Royal Institution, while also playing an active role in the Royal Society. Tyndall moved in the highest social and intellectual circles. A friend of Tennyson and Carlyle, as well as Michael Faraday and Thomas Huxley, Tyndall was one of the most visible advocates of a scientific world view as tensions grew between developing scientific knowledge and theology. He was an active and often controversial commentator, through letters, essays, speeches, and debates, on the scientific, political, and social issues of the day, with strongly stated views on Ireland, religion, race, and the role of women. Widely read in America, his lecture tour there in 1872-73 was a great success.

Roland Jackson paints a picture of an individual at the heart of Victorian science and society. He also describes Tyndall's importance as a pioneering mountaineer in what has become known as the Golden Age of Alpinism. Among other feats, Tyndall was the first to traverse the Matterhorn. He presents Tyndall as a complex personality, full of contrasts, with his intense sense of duty, his deep love of poetry, his generosity to friends and his combativeness, his persistent ill-health alongside great physical stamina driving him to his mountaineering feats. Drawing on Tyndall's letters and journals for this first major biography of Tyndall since 1945, Jackson explores the legacy of a man who aroused strong opinions, strong loyalties, and strong enmities throughout his life.

The Ascent of John Tyndall

Victorian Scientist, Mountaineer, and Public Intellectual

Roland Jackson

A note on words
Introduction
1. Irish Beginnings (c. 1822-1844)
2. Railway Mania (1844-1847)
3. Queenwood College (1847-1848)
4. Marburg (1848-1850)
5. Making a Name (1850-1853)
6. Clash of Theories (1854-1856)
7. Glacial Explorations (1856-1857)
8. Storms over Glaciers (1858-1860)
9. Radiant Heat (1859-1862)
10. Heated Exchanges (1862-1865)
11. The X-Club (1864-1866)
12. Eyre Affair and Death of Faraday (1866-1868)
13. Prayer, Miracles, Metaphysics, and Spirits (1865-1880)
14. Mountaineering in the 1860s (1860-1868)
15. Clouds of Imagination (1868-1870)
16. Dust and Disease (1870-1872)
17. Government Service and Education (1871-1892)
18. America (1872-1873)
19. Fogs and Glaciers (1873)
20. The Belfast Address (1873-1875)
21. Floating Matter of the Air (1875-1876)
22. Contamination (1876-1878)
23. Electric lights and Mining Accidents (1879-1886)
24. Hindhead (1880-1883)
25. Rainbows and Lighthouses (1883-1885)
26. The Final Years (1886-1893)
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography

The Ascent of John Tyndall

Victorian Scientist, Mountaineer, and Public Intellectual

Roland Jackson

Author Information

Roland Jackson is a historian of science, with interests also in contemporary science and innovation policy, and in bioethics. His recent posts include: Head of the Science Museum, London; Chief Executive of the British Science Association; and Executive Chair of Sciencewise. He is a General Editor of The Correspondence of John Tyndall, being published in 19 volumes by the Royal Institution.

The Ascent of John Tyndall

Victorian Scientist, Mountaineer, and Public Intellectual

Roland Jackson

Reviews and Awards

"Mr. Jackson amasses a wealth of detail to give a fuller picture of this extraordinary man... [He] has done a great service in his detailed and careful presentation of John Tyndall's life at a time when science is under attack, neglected and misunderstood, especially by those in government." -- Peter Pesic, Wall Street Journal

"Roland Jackson has done a thorough job... it is certainly the best biography of Tyndall." -- John Gribbin, Literary Review

"Jackson's book arrives just in time to help situate Tyndall's work on heat in the atmosphere-which has recently seen him dubbed an anachronistic "father" of global warming-within the context of a life bursting with science and much else besides . . . Roland Jackson's admirably complete biography is the first serious biography to appear since a patchy production appeared in 1945, soon after [Tyndall's wife] Louisa's death. It's about time." -- Science

"A massive biography of one of the Victorian era's most significant all-around scientists. Science historian Jackson sets himself the monumental task of sorting through the volumes of writing of Irish scientist John Tyndall." -- Kirkus

"Roland Jackson brings a unique set of credentials to his chronicle of Tyndall's life. The author is himself an accomplished mountaineer, who has served as Head of London's Science Museum . . . It was not until 1945, more than half a century after his death, that a semi-authorised biography of Tyndall was published. Now Jackson has authoritatively redressed this injustice." -- Geographical

"Splendid monument of a biography." -- Barbara Kiser, Nature

"In Jackson's hands, Tyndall becomes the perfect lens through which to analyse the questions and controversies we are still dealing with today: the role of the humanities and sciences both in broader culture and in our education systems; the role of gases in global warming; and the increasingly close ties between science, industry, and government." -- Michael Reidy, Metascience

"One of the most important mountaineering biographies to have been published in recent years... Roland Jackson's biography of John Tyndall is not only a tour de force of scholarship, it's also an eminently readable book... It's a magnificent piece of work and a must-read for every scholar of Alpine history." - Alex Roddie, The Great Outdoors

"Excellent biography... The Ascent of John Tyndall is a long-overdue, magnificent tribute to an important, but largely under-appreciated scientist. Highly recommended." -- Richard Carter, Friends of Darwin

The Ascent of John Tyndall

Victorian Scientist, Mountaineer, and Public Intellectual

Roland Jackson

From Our Blog

John Tyndall in America

The development of the world, and of scientific discovery, is highly contingent on the actions of individual people. The Irish-born John Tyndall (c. 1822'93), controversial scientist, mountaineer, and public intellectual, nearly emigrated to America in his early 20s, like so many of his fellow countrymen. Had he done so, the trajectory of nineteenth-century scientific discovery would have been different.

Posted on May 5, 2018

Read the blog post