The Ascent of John Tyndall

This highly readable and fascinating biography is the first for over 70 years of John Tyndall (1822 – 1893) a Victorian scientist who was also a mountaineer and public intellectual. Associated for a long time with the Royal Institution, Tyndall was one of an elite group of scientists and became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1852, having completed part of his education at universities in Germany. His affiliations included membership of the famous X-Club, the Metaphysical Society and another dining club with many of the leading figures of the day such as Gladstone. He took an active part in the outstanding debates of the day such as science and religion, where he tried to steer a middle path. His philosophy was based on the now much more familiar concept of self-organisation, a truly prescient insight. As a scientist, he made contributions to climate science in discovering the physical basis of the greenhouse effect and why the sky is blue, but also to acoustics, magnetism and bacteriology. He was famous as a popular science communicator. His many years of summer trips to the Alps enabled him not only to research glaciers, but also to accomplish mountaineering feats such as being the first to traverse the Matterhorn and to ascend the Weisshorn. I was struck by the importance of the annual British Association meetings for presentations by the leading scientists at the day, many of whom were also officers. This biography fills an important gap while also painting a vivid picture of Victorian scientific, intellectual and political life.