When it comes to the history of natural history, there are so many stories about so many interesting people, remarkable places, and fascinating discoveries to be told, and a seemingly inversely proportional number of people who possess the knowledge about them, as well the needed resources and skills to do so. Thus we have a vast number of names stretching far back into the past that are – to all but select specialists about any particular one of them – little more than that; names.
Meteorology, climate science, magnetism, acoustics, bacteriology; all these fields were greatly advanced by the contributions to them made by John Tyndall. However if you’re like many people – including may who consider themselves relatively well-versed in the history of the sciences – his name may not be a familiar one to you. Yet in his time, his writings were widely read on both sides of the Atlantic, and his lectures filled halls night after night.