“John Tyndall,” by Thomas Woolner

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Medallion of John Tyndall

Thomas Woolner

1876

Marble

Royal Institution of Great Britain

Albemarle Street, London W1

John Tyndall, who wrote the first biography of Michael Faraday, succeeded him as Superintendent of the Royal Institution in 1867, living there until 1887. He was Professor of Natural Philosophy at the institution from 1853-87 and continued Faraday's tradition of giving popular science lectures there. [continue below]

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Faraday's statue by John Henry Foley

John Tyndall

Michael Faraday

Photograph, caption, and commentary by Jacqueline Banerjee

Apart from being a good likeness, as comparison with an early photograph in profile shows, this portrait captures the steady directness of the man ("Tyndall was a forthright and outspoken character," Trotter 205). Something of his character can be guessed from the fact that he was a passionate mountaineer and liked to take ice-cold baths. Woolner aimed to catch the true quality of his sitters: see John Lucas Tupper's appreciation of this sculptor. He seems to have succeeded here.

Bibliography

Trotter, W. R. The Hilltop Writers: A Victorian Colony among the Surrey Hills. Headley Down, Hampshire: John Owen Smith, 2003. (The section on Tyndall, which deals mainly with his life in his and his wife's country home, has a photograph of him sitting in his study chair, looking into the distance.)

Last modified 4 March 2009