tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3724376948636627084.post2361497197425285663..comments2024-03-20T21:38:10.502+00:00Comments on Science matters: Blue skiesBobTheScientisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02038631019672961663noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3724376948636627084.post-59265708225308176892020-07-24T19:58:49.640+01:002020-07-24T19:58:49.640+01:00I Know why the Sky is Blue. Do You?
Marking the 2...I Know why the Sky is Blue. Do You?<br /><br />Marking the 200th Anniversary of the Birth of John Tyndall<br /><br />Sunday August 2nd will be the 200th anniversary of the birth of County Carlow’s great 19th century scientist, inventor, educator and mountaineer, John Tyndall. As one of Ireland’s great scientists he discovered among many things the science of climate change, why the sky is blue, he developed the sterilisation method called Tyndallisation and published what is considered the first book in English on mountaineering. Even a crater on the planet Mars is named in his honour!<br /><br /> <br /><br />John was born in Leighlinbridge by the banks of the River Barrow and the legacy of his career is very much in evidence to this day. Carlow County Museum and the Tyndall National Institute, Cork, will mark the occasion at 2.00pm on Sunday August 2nd on Carlow County Museum’s Facebook page with an online broadcast with some eminent John Tyndall experts: Martin Nevin, Tyndall Committee, from Leighlinbridge, who has promoted John Tyndall for nearly 50 years; Sir Roland Jackson, author of Tyndall’s biography ‘The Ascent of John Tyndall: Victorian Scientist, Mountaineer, and Public Intellectual’ and Julie Donnelly, Head of Access Programmes, Tyndall National Institute. Alicia Premkumar, Planet Pals, will be the MC for the event.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Martin Nevin is a native of Leighlinbridge and along with Dr Norman McMillan and several other colleagues in IT Carlow have being promoting the great work of John Tyndall since the 1970s.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Sir Roland Jackson is a Visiting Fellow of the Royal Institution, London and in 2018,<br /><br />through Oxford University Press he published the first biography of John Tyndall since 1945. The paperback version has just been published.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Julie Donnelly is the Head of Infrastructure Access Programmes, Tyndall National Institute, first joining NMRC/Tyndall in 1985 as its first engineer. She will enlighten us as to how John Tyndall’s 19th century research is inspiring the work of Tyndall National Institute.<br /><br /> <br /><br />The event will be presented by Alicia Premkumar of Planet Pals and St. Leo’s College, Carlow Town. Alicia is known among the schools of the county for her promotion of the importance of looking after the environment.<br /><br /> <br /><br />The public are encouraged to get involved by undertaking, safely, their own Tyndall experiment at home. Tyndall National Institute will guide you through this Tyndall Science at Home project. Upload your video or photo efforts at bending light or growing sourdough to be in with a chance to win a #Tyndall200 prize pack! The winners will be showcased during Heritage Week 2020 in mid-August.<br /><br /> <br /><br />From 1853 to 1887 John was the Professor of Natural Philosophy at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, London. In 1861 he published his important paper on the absorption of heat by gases the founding paper of climate science. He was the first person to detect and explain the physical basis of the ‘Greenhouse Effect’.<br /><br /> <br /><br />In the 1860s John discovered why the sky is blue. The scattering of light from colloids in the atmosphere is known as the Tyndall Effect.<br /><br /> <br /><br />In 1861 he published ‘Mountaineering in 1861’. This book was based on his exploits in the Alps when he led the first recorded team to climb the 4,506 meters to the top of the Weisshorn.<br /><br /> <br /><br />John died on December 4th, 1893, after his wife, Louisa, accidently poisoned him by mistaking a bottle of sleeping draught for an indigestion remedy.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17141742426308506812noreply@blogger.com