Tyndall, John F.R.S. (1820-1893), British physicist

1855-1890

113 items

Purchased from: Sotheby's, London, December 1919 (acc.67287), April 1928 (acc.48104), February 1930 (acc.52479), May 1930 (acc.52792), July 1931 (acc.57468-57479 and 67541), November 1931 (acc.75332), December 1931 (acc.75871), February 1932 (acc.76066), April 1932 (acc.65134), July 1932 (acc.65271) and November 1933 (acc.67472); R.V. Westcott, May 1927 (acc.45498); M. Christie & Wood's, London, May 1928 (acc.57004); Mrs. Barrett, London, March 1930 (acc.91327); Knight, Frank and Rutley, London, July 1930 (acc.73460); Stevens, London, September 1930 (acc.56566), November 1930 (acc.55796), March 1931 (acc.68132), July 1931 (acc.68193), August 1931 (acc.68215 and 68222) and October 1932 (acc.68313); Glendining, London, March 1932 (acc.67624), September 1933 (acc.67769), August 1934 (acc.67833), October 1934 (acc.67926), December 1934 (acc.67935), January 1935 (acc.67950 and 67974) and March 1935 (acc.68475); Desgranges, Paris, January 1934 (acc.66596); Heck, Vienna, 1934 (acc.68627); Mrs. Watson, Burnley, March 1945 (acc.72200), presumably once part of the Thomas Madden Stone autograph collection; J.L.M. Gulley, London, April 1999 (acc.351163). Various items carry an accession number or numbers for which no provenance is recorded: nos.1 (acc.67430), 7 (acc.16470), 8 (acc.92086: possibly purchased at Sotheby's, date unknown), 17 (acc.67430), 23 (acc.16471), 40 (acc.67430), 47 (acc.16473), 49 (acc.67430), 50 (acc.16474 and 67430), 56 (acc.16475), 61 and 64 (acc.67430) and 83 (acc.16472). No.106 part of a batch of material transferred from Wellcome Historical Medical Museum offices, provenance not known (acc.69200); nos.7, 23, 47, 50 and 56 transferred from Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, c.1939 (acc.91800). No accession details recorded for nos.9, 11, 13-15, 21, 27, 29-30, 35, 38-39, 42-46, 58, 66-67, 78-81, 84, 86-87, 104 and 111.

John Tyndall F.R.S. (1820-1893) was a physicist and mountaineer, born in Ireland in County Carlow. His work concentrated on the properties of crystals, on glaciation and the behaviour of ice, and on light. He was noted for the animation and showmanship of his lectures and did much to establish physics as a separate discipline in British education. A full description of his life and work is to be found in the Dictionary of National Biography.

At other repositories

The Royal Institution of Great Britain holds corerspondence and papers of John Tyndall (RI MS JT). Notably, the letter from John Tyndall to James Croll held at Wellcome Collection as MS.7777/8 is a reply to letter from Croll to Tyndall held at the Royal Instition (RI MS JT/TYP/1/65-66).

Database description transcribed from Richard Aspin and Christopher Hilton's typescript supplement to S.A.J Moorat's Catalogue of Western Manuscripts