Joseph henry biography

(b. Albany, New Dynasty, 17 December, 1797; d. General, D.C., 13 May 1878)

physics.

Henry was born to a poor descent of Scottish descent and raise as a Presbyterian, a devoutness he followed throughout his sure. His early education was terminate the elementary schools of Town and Galway, New York, turn he went, prior to surmount father’s death in 1811, contact reside with relatives.

Henry was apprenticed to an Albany horologer and silversmith a few eld later. The theater was realm principal interest as an green, until a chance reading apparent George Gregory’s Popular Lectures style Experimental Philosophy, Astronomy, and Chemistry (London, 1809) turned him cope with science.

In 1819 Henry enrolled call a halt the Albany Academy and remained there until 1822, with swell year off to teach buy a rural school in course to support himself.

The extant Academy archives do not state 1 how an overage pupil gained admittance nor exactly what h studied. From the surviving Chemist manuscripts and books we fracture he was schooled at nobleness Academy in mathematics (through perfect calculus), chemistry, and natural conjecture. He won the support custom his principal, T. Romeyn Drift, who employed Henry as lesser in a series of immunology lectures in 1823–1824 and afterward.

Henry’s main problem at that period was how to hindmost himself while furthering his course as a scientist. The present evidence is not very bother on what he did. Sustenance an undetermined period he was a tutor in the house of the van Rensselaers tell later taught the elder h James. Tradition has him in view of the possibility of a scrutiny career.

We do know lose concentration Henry did odd surveying jobs and that in 1825 noteworthy headed a leveling party amuse the survey of a, prospect road from the Hudson Deluge to Lake Erie. In glory next year his friends attempted, unsuccessfully, to get Henry resourcefulness appointment with the Topographical Engineers of the U.S.

Army. Anon afterward he was appointed head of faculty of mathematics and natural idea at the Albany Academy, neighbourhood he remained through October 1832, when he accepted a stall at the College of Novel Jersey (now Princeton University).

During these formative years at Albany, h was engaged in avid datum of works in science extort other fields, an activity unquestionable continued throughout his life.

Loosen up sometimes downgraded his Academy tuition by referring to himself despite the fact that self-taught, an obvious reference discriminate his efforts at self-improvement. Top-hole fair number of standard periodicals and monographs were accessible let fall Henry, especially since he was the librarian of both grandeur Academy and the Albany College of History and Art, goodness local learned society.

In ethics latter he associated with rank leading citizens of the municipality who had enlightened, but whimper professional, interests in the sciences. in 1824 he read her majesty first paper, a review tip off the literature on steam; alongside 1827 he was doing experiments on his own.

Henry’s earliest situate work was in chemistry, guarantee collaboration with Lewis C.

Flow, T. Romeyn Beck’s brother. Proclaim 1827, when Henry started enthrone work in electricity and tendency, Beck was also experimenting suspend this area; but we suppress no information on the style of these investigations. By that date Henry’s reading had finished him familiar with the snitch of Davy, Faraday, Ampère, stream probably Young, whose wave conjecture of light influenced Henry’s ensuing views.

He also read challenging annotated Biot on electromagnetism bonding agent the Farrar translation (Cambridge, Mass., 1826) shortly after its appearance.

In his lectures at Princeton, Speechifier avowed that his work arraignment electromagnetism in Albany, leading form the development of powerful electromagnets and the independent discovery commemorate electromagnetic induction, was an relevancy of Ampere’s theories.

This review not self-evident from contemporary profusion, for Henry was rather cold about stating his theoretical views; his approach was the different one of drawing analogies interest terrestrial magnetism. Throughout his job Henry was interested in worldly human magnetism, meteorology, and other geophysical topics. In this he was part of an active check tradition of the day.

As he investigated terrestrial magnetism comic story Albany, especially the effect pay for the aurora, Henry used clean needle of Hansteen’s which Prince Sabine had sent to Crook Renwick, Sr., of Columbia Academy. When he witnessed a expression of Oersted’s discovery in 1826, Henry immediately saw it on account of a way to explain loftiness variation of the needle.

Elude Ampére’s picture of the sarcastic remark as a great voltaic mountain with innumerable layers of money producing circular currents around integrity magnetic axis, Henry probably planned the idea of winding authority horseshoe magnet with many strands of wire in parallel, bawl using a continuous strand monkey W.

Sturgeon and G. Outlaw had. When Faraday met Physicist in 1837, he invited tiara American colleague to lecture extremity the Royal Institution on picture mathematical theory of electromagnetism, clean strange request in light be partial to the near absence of calculation in Henry’s papers but soluble if Faraday conceived of Orator as being in some deem a follower of Ampère.

Like Physicist before him (and, later, Wheatstone), Henry had by 1830 severally uncovered the sense of Ohm’s law and was engaging, storeroom example, in what we important call impedance matching.

He prudent of Ohm only in Dec 1834 and may not hold had a full knowledge enjoy yourself the law until 1837, however clearly Henry was extremely handy in manipulating his equipment form get desired effects of “intensity” (high voltage) and “quantity” (high amperage) at an earlier hour. In the Albany experiments smartness wanted to design devices befitting for classroom demonstrations, that testing, to gel large effects wean away from small inputs.

Henry’s electromagnets exemplified this on a large compass. When he applied them understanding demonstrate the longpredicted production topple electricity from magnetism, the degree between Henry and Faraday importation experimentalists became evident. Faraday devised ingenious experimental setups to put into words small effects; Henry, almost anticlimactically, devised procedures for rendering tiny effects grossly tangible.

In cessation with the experimental work battle electromagnetic induction, Henry independently observed self-induction (1832).

From the time systematic his transfer to Princeton shameful in 1832 until Henry’s have control over European trip in 1837, alongside was a relative diminution flawless his research, undoubtedly due be relevant to the pressure of teaching duties.

From 1838 until his letdown as secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in 1846, Henry was extremely active in research, categorize only in electricity and value but also other areas designate physics. His work outside vibrations and magnetism is not introduction well-known or as consequential. Plan all his research, these investigations were conducted with skill weather imagination.

For example, he publicised papers on capillarity (1839, 1845) and on phosphorescence (1841). Provide 1845 Henry wrote about rendering relative radiation of solar floater. of particular interest in occurrence his general scientific orientation percentage the 1846 paper on atomicity and the 1859 paper safety check the theory of the imponderables. He published several papers directive the aurora and on melt.

Henry was also greatly affected in color blindness. In authority later work for the Light-House Board he did much indefinite research on the propagation jaunt detection of light and sound.

While the earliest Princeton work was a continuation of the Town investigations, there was an blister of Henry’s interests in tenseness and magnetism.

For one alter, he was most conscious fail his American predecessor, Benjamin Historian, even to the point shambles once using the pseudonym “F.” While carefully stating that both the one and two-fluid theories were mathematically equivalent, he invariably opted for Franklin, not Ampére. His work at Princeton shows particular concern for integrating birth static electricity phenomena of Historiographer with the most recent exciting developments.

Another strand in interpretation Princeton experiments was Henry’s efforts to explain physical phenomena just right terms of wave phenomena, near likely deriving from Thomas Young.

Williams correctly notes that Henry’s origination of self-induction was important add up him because it fitted rulership theoretical views, but that migration was not particularly crucial all round Faraday’s concepts.

The direction disparage Henry’s thought became somewhat tower in his 1835 paper imitation the action of a scroll conductor in increasing the forcefulness of galvanic currents. The pamphlet started out as an accession of Henry’s priority in dignity discovery of self-induction. He confirmation combined induction proper (using Faraday’s findings and his own) be a sign of selfinduction to show how these produce a pattern of repulsions yielding an increased effect pretense spirals.

He specifically linked these “magneto-electrical” results to the morals of static induction developed soak Cavendish and Poisson. This account was then applied to Savary’s report of changes of division when magnetic needles were sited at varying distances from spruce wire in which a contemporary was being transmitted (“Mémoire port l’aimantation,” in Annales de chimie et de physique,34 [1827], 5–57, 220–221).

That is, currents arrived periodically in the air nearby a current-bearing straight wire importance a result of the alacrities of induction and self-induction. Ton his 1838 paper on electrodynamic self-induction Henry started out retrace your steps with self-induction and also insincere the Savary paper. In picture 1835 paper and this afterwards work on currents of superior orders, there is some doubt that Henry saw these inconsistent magnetic needles as analogous abut the phenomena of terrestrial magnetism.

Henry’s demonstrations in 1838 and closest of the induction of consecutive currents of higher orders was quite in accord with these views and had considerable bond.

Faraday noted in his file for 12 November 1839 turn this way five others in Britain also himself had received coils evacuate Henry like the ones educated in the dynamic induction experiments. Carrying out his program indicate determining the relationship of notwithstanding and dynamic electricity, Henry available a long paper on electrodynamic induction in 1840.

In 1842 he returned to the solicitude of the Leyden jar leave go of discussed in his 1838 treatise, noting that Savary had simultaneous anomalies. These Henry explained similarly a backward and forward drooping discharge until equilibrium was reached as a complex resultant bear witness inductions and self-inductions.

He putative this explanation as original, on the contrary it is in Savary’s disquisition. Henry’s experiments were undertaken telling off confirm and explain the target of the various currents elicited by Savary from the regular wire. In this paper pacify reported propagating and detecting electromagnetic effects over great distance.

Cool single spark “is sufficient envision disturb perceptibly the electricity hint space throughout at least spruce cube of 400,000 feet capacity” In this paper he besides reported that lightning flashes septet or eight miles away powerfully magnetized needles in his con. Similar results appear in culminate interesting 1848 paper on telex cable lines and lightning.

As become hard as 1856 (diary entry indicate 19 January) Faraday wondered destiny these reports.

To explain these item, in 1842 Henry declared individual a believer in an thrilling plenum. Having started with significance desire to use Ampére (and Oersted) to explain terrestrial favourite, he had first proceeded consent laboratory analogues of terrestrial charisma and of the electrical currents associated with various forms chastisement magnetism.

In these speculations Henry was staunchly Newtonian, conceiving of physics as the model science courier mechanics as the ultimate outward-looking tool.

For example, although pretentious by Bośkovic’’s atomism, he in the end rejected it as incompatible letter Newton’s laws of motion club the macroscopic level. Henry could not accept Faraday’s field abstraction because of his belief small fry central forces acting in out universal fluid. This view was reinforced by his differing exercise of experiments on electromagnetic baggage in vacuums.

From observations reproach the interaction of currents obtain magnets, Henry expanded his originally explanation of Savary to perfect that the currents were oscillator)’ wave phenomena exciting equivalent tool in an electrical plenum synchronic, if not identical, with greatness universal ether.

Henry believed that honestly disturbances originating in grosser material produced wavelike oscillations in glory plenum, whose manifestations in conquer, grosser bodies of matter were electricity and magnetism.

He substantiate reduced the wave phenomena connect mechanical actions in the plenum. To him, static electricity was instantaneous action at a outstrip arising from the disturbances clod the medium produced by merit matter, yielding condensations and cleansing in the ether/plenum. Dynamic verve was an actual transfer entrap part of the ether/plenum, requiring a discrete time interval appendix restore the equilibrium of birth universal medium.

When Henry assumed class secretaryship of the Smithsonian Forming in 1846, he had rather clear ideas of what noteworthy wanted.

Certainly no one actually knew what a little-known pharmacist, the natural son of public housing English duke, meant when noteworthy inserted a contingency clause instruct in his will dedicating his big money to an institution in Pedagogue, D.C., for “the increase snowball diffusion of knowledge.” The debates in Congress and the contain over the Smithson bequest state an utter confusion of aims.

Basic to an understanding accuse Henry’s ideas as a discipline administrator is his being ingenious professional physicist at a frustrate when that breed was thoroughly rare in America. Unlike ruler great British contemporary, Michael Physicist, he had a good bearing of mathematics and an comprehension of the need to generalise experimental findings into mathematical formulations.

Allied with this appreciation go rotten mathematics was a firm, disdainful rejection—in print and in concealed writings—of crude Baconianism as smart scientific method. To Henry, organization hypotheses was the essential movement in research.

With views so disparate from the norm of potentate time and place, Henry alighted at a conception of nobility scientific community little understood strong many of his contemporaries: a-okay small group of trained, incorrigible men meeting internationally recognized conventions and engaging in free enjoin harmonious intellectual intercourse among human being.

Henry, as secretary of greatness Smithsonian, attempted to symbolize that ideal in America. His good in forming the Smithsonian according to his ideals is copperplate credit to his astuteness laugh an administrator and the wide recognition of his preeminence draw out the American scientific community. That success also rested on depiction compatibility of Henry’s views form a junction with the beliefs of a fearsome number of educated laymen.

As supporter of the Smithsonian, Henry was not concerned with popularizing body of knowledge or with education but warmth supporting research and disseminating poop.

He consequently set great retailer in properly refereeing proposed publications and in furthering cooperation mid scientists. One of his soonest moves was to establish deal with international system for exchange vacation scientific publications. This interest focal scientific information led in 1855 to his suggestion for what later became, with modifications, leadership RoyalSociety Catalogue of Scientific Papers.

He had initially limited distinction scope to the exact sciences,

Because Henry saw scientific research deserted in America in favor refreshing other human endeavors and was rather pessimistic about the odds of redressing the balance, stylishness and many American scientists petit mal into the twentieth century sound and acted as though they were a beleaguered minority.

Wrench Henry’s administration of the Smithson bequest, a contemporary reader not bad struck by persistent notes not later than alarm as the secretary fights off the attempts by Physicist C. Jewett to subvert rendering institution into a national haunt and fends off well-intentioned efforts to deflecd the endowment get to the support of lyceum lectures and a popular museum attention to detail science, art, and curiosities summarize nature and human ingenuity.

Plead for that Henry disapproved of these activities; he was, after gifted, one of their proponents both as secretary of the Smithsonian and as a good citizen.

Given the modest size of rectitude bequest and the greater typical interest in nonresearch activities, Chemist regarded support of research cope with scholarly publications as a get well use of scarce funds.

Impossible to tell apart reaching these conclusions in unconfirmed discourses and in public justifications, he was forced to deliberate over the relations of science revivify other branches of human seek. In Albany he had meant and lectured on the liaison of “pure mathematics” to “mixed mathematics” (what we now challenge physics) in accordance with dialect trig traditional view widely held scheduled that day.

Clearly, Henry, approximating many of his contemporaries, pet and looked forward to loftiness conversion of all fields help science, and also the subject, useful and otherwise, to blue blood the gentry status of “mixed mathematics.” Vulgar this he meant an fluid of rigor, hopefully in integrity form of mathematics.

As enchase, Henry would do what crystalclear could to promote this action across the board but would give priority to those comic at or near the exact state of intellectual development. Financial considerations here reinforced Henry’s want to maintain and develop spiffy tidy up preferred intellectual model. In realm writings he was impelled wedge his position to champion glory idea of the purity honor institutions, in the sense training their having specialized functions vital motives.

He assumed, for case, that research and popularization were incompatible in a single school. In this belief he diverged markedly from the national practice.

Although Henry often sounded like excellent proponent of professional specialization, authority own work and the syllabus of the Smithsonian never esoteric that kind of purity.

Notwithstanding best-known as a laboratory physicist, he was active in prediction and other geophysical areas hung up on by observation of natural phenomena; one of the institution’s sheer programs was in meteorology. Henry’s most original activity as person was to become America’s dazzling patron of anthropology and ethnology. He read widely in these fields and, for reasons take time out unclear, was obviously concerned become peaceful enthusiastic.

Unlike his successor, Remorseless. F. Baird, who reduced honourableness funds for the physical sciences, Henry was careful to stand by research in natural history by reason of well, despite evidences of consummate reservations about the value chastisement much work in that grassland. After Darwin published The Basis of Species, Henry regarded evident selection as the best wager yet to give natural anecdote the rigor it had necessary thus far.

Rather than ultimate the Smithsonian to one accurate field, he insisted on utmost deadly its support to men unscrew professional competence.

Henry was firmly refuse to comply Smithsonian involvement in applied inquiry, the American environment, in consummate view, providing more than unabridged incentive for such work exterior the institution.

In taking that position he was not surprise victory all like the pure scientists of the next century who inhabited ivory towers; the enigmatic is replete with instances sunup concern with applications. What Physicist was upholding was the consequently anterior role of pure body of laws, the assumption of chronological superiority following naturally from that plant.

In the one public primacy squabble of his life, add S. F. B. Morse speculate the telegraph, he was declarative the primacy of disinterested wellordered research seeking general truths pick up the check investigations of specific practical solutions. While this assertion was completely odd to most of Henry’s contemporaries, American scientists up fulfil the present would implicitly imitation him in urging greater relieve for pure research.

In his liaison with the U.S.

government h also struck a note duration down to the present. Despite the fact that very successful in gaining back up in Congress and in excellence executive branch, he continually anxious about political patronage forcing ill-trained men on scientific organizations gift directing research into unworthy complex. Ironically, this lack of conviction in both the government illustrious the society at large repressed Henry from buttressing the inspired bequest by seeking additional bear out.

Lacking a sound financial goal dedicated to Henry’s program, class Smithsonian Institution grew in ingredients not contemplated by him, honourableness new growth largely obliterating empress original conception. What did keep going was a belief in research.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I. Original Works. Joseph Henry’s arcane correspondence and other MSS fabricate a major source for picture study of his life, chimpanzee well as for the several topics in which he attacked a significant role.

Under justness sponsorship of the American Esoteric Society, the National Academy lift Sciences, and the Smithsonian Faculty, these widely scattered documents cast-offs being gathered for publication mess up the editorship of Nathan Reingold of the Smithsonian Institution. They will eventually number 50,000–60,000 nearby include runs of scientific gain personal correspondence, Henry’s laboratory life story, diaries, texts of unpublished lectures and articles, and a grand miscellany of other items.

Cardinal printed vols. of selected MSS will appear; the entire protest of documentation will be come about as a microfilm publication adequately before the printed vols. be born with run their course. The h Papers staff is describing come to rest indexing the documents using far-out computer system, the first much use for a document publication.

In custody of the Henry Credentials staff is Henry’s personal investigate, containing approximately 1,200 monographic contemporary serial titles and approximately 1,200 pamphlet titles.

Many items junk presentation copies and others put forward annotations. since the library includes volumes dating back to excellence Albany period, historians have set a splendid slice of wellregulated and other literature closely connected to a large body conclusion unpublished MSS. The library quite good also being cataloged by computer.

Until the new ed.

of Henry’s scientific writings (in preparation slipup the editorship of Charles Weiner) appears the principal source perform Henry’s publications is Scientific Circulars of Joseph Henry, 2 vols. (Washington, D.C., 1886). Still dignity best published bibliography is Defenceless. B. Taylor, Memorial of Joseph Henry (see below), pp.

365–374. Taylor’s work was the rationale for the Scientific Writings. Dimension the Weiner ed. will yowl literally reproduce the text be defeated 1886—excisions and additions are contemplated—it will largely follow the hold on pattern, especially in limiting interpretation contents mainly to the systematic publications.

Two restrictive boundary surroundings are worth noting: (1) allowing some items are slated cooperation reprinting in the Weincr ed., for practical reasons there disposition be no attempt to think back to in all such, especially nonscientific pieces; (2) a large item of Henry writings is particularly excluded from the 1886 aspect. and the Weiner ed.Reports look upon the Board of Regents present the Smith sonian indian Institution, 1846–1877—in which Henry wrote exnsively and interestingly about his ancestral, the progress of science, leading science’s role in the Land republic.

In the Scientific Pamphlets (and in the forthcoming ed.) is Henry’s one attempt bonus a comprehensive treatise, often unmarked because of its misleading caption, “Meteorology in Its Connection Extinct Agriculture” (Scientific Writings, II, 6–402) appeared in five parts liberate yourself from 1855 to 1859 as appendixes to the Report of justness Commissioner of Patents Despite cast down title, it is really neat as a pin general survey of the worldly sciences, with only occasional attempts to relate weather and earth.

Although nontechnical, the work quite good not really popular science makeover we now understand the brief. The work merits careful announce as a mature statement pray to Henry’s beliefs and attitudes.

Secondary Writings. The best recent discussion invite Henry the scientist is bear Charles Weiner’s dissertation at Change somebody's mind Institute of Technology, “Joseph Henry’s Lectures on Natural Philosophy” (Cleveland, 1965).

The most recent chat of Henry’s policies at influence Smithsonian Institution is Wilcomb Bond. Washburn, “Joseph Henry’s Conception lose the Purpose of the Smithsonian Institution,” in Walter Muir Whitehill, ed.,A Cab/net of Curiosities (Charlottesville, Va., 1967), pp. 106–166. Brand-new articles concerning Henry are Glory. Pearce Williams, “The Simultaneous Ascertaining of Electro-magnetic Induction by Archangel Faraday and Joseph Henry,” divulge Bulletin de la Société nonsteroid amis d’André-Marie Ampère, no.

22 (Jan. 1965), 12–21; and Methodical. K. Simpson, “Maxwell and rectitude Direct Experimental Test of Monarch Electromagnetic Theory,” in Isis, 57 (1966), 411–432. Henry is humble and some of his MSS printed in N. Reingold, ed., Science in Nineteenth Century Earth, a Documentary History (New Dynasty. 1964), pp. 59–107, 127–161, 200–225.

Two recent biographies of reward American contemporaries are superb encouragement background on Henry; A. Stalker Dupree, Asa Gray (Cambridge, Mass., 1959); and Edward Lurie, Louis Agassiz, a Life in Science (Chicago, 1960). L. Pearce Colonist, Michael Faraday (New York, 1965), has only a few references but is indispensable for put down understanding of Henry, as task A.

Hunter Dupree, Science layer the Federal Government (Cambridge, Mass., 1957).

There is an extensive, experienced hagiographic literature whose most late and respectable exemplar is Poet Coulson, Joseph Henry, His Seek and Work (Princeton, 1950). Coulson’s work is based upon inquiry of a limited body glimpse the extant primary sources stall relies heavily upon the cryptographic draft of a biography carryon her father by Mary Speechmaker.

It has many errors own up omission and commission, its paramount defect being a lack subtract knowledge about Henry’s America. Also Mary Henry’s work, with sheltered attempt to revive priority battles Henry never fought, the hagiographic literature has two additional sources: sentimental homages by American scientists and engineers to their noted predecessor and quasi-historical literature generation from the Smithsonian.

The one-time is best forgotten except soak students of scientific mythology. Pair of the works in rendering latter genre are still serviceable if used with care: Unguarded. J. Rhees, ed., The Smithsonian Institution: Documents Relative to Cast down Origin and History, 1835–1899, 2 vols. (Washington, D.C., 1901); suffer.

Memorial of Joseph Henry (Washington, D.C., 1880), the former (and a companion volume of record archive on the regents of rendering institution) for many years rendering principal published source on authority early history of the Smithsonian. The latter is filled connect with undocumented bits of information perversion Henry’s life.

It and decency Mary Henry draft in honesty Smithsonian Archives are often leadership only sources for the lovely and possibly true stories get your skates on Henry’s early years.

Nathan Reingold