Roland Jackson - The Ascent of John Tyndall: Victorian Scientist, Mountaineer, and Public Intellectual

Physics no one reads, History every one reads

John William Draper

All history becomes subjective; in other words, there is properly no History; only Biography

Ralph Waldo Emerson

This book has been at least seven years in the making. I am particularly grateful to Nicola, who has had to live with John Tyndall and me for that period. To her I dedicate this book, with love and enormous thanks.

I used to wonder why the list of acknowledgements in biographies is generally so long. Now I know. A legion of people has helped me with information, advice, and critique. Without their assistance and knowledge I could not have written this work. I should like to blame them for any remaining errors, but such are of course all mine.

I have benefited hugely from interaction with the many scholars working on the Tyndall Correspondence Project, which is publishing his letters in nineteen volumes between 2015 and 2023. I have been welcomed into this community, which combines leading-edge scholarship on Tyndall with knowledge and expertise in so many associated domains. Particular thanks to the projects director, Bernard Lightman, and to my other fellow general editors, James Elwick and Michael Reidy. Special thanks also to Melinda Baldwin, Michael Barton, Ruth Barton, William Brock, Janet Browne, Geoffrey Belknap, Geoffrey Cantor, Gowan Dawson, Graeme Gooday, Diarmid Finnegan, Nanna Kaalund, Elizabeth Neswald, and many others behind the scenes.

John Tyndall is one of the Royal Institutions most famous figures. It has been a privilege to sit at a desk there as a Visiting Fellow opposite a portrait of Michael Faraday, at the invitation of Frank James, and occasionally to speak in the hallowed Faraday Theatre. Franks support and encouragement has been crucial, combining commentary on several draft chapters with innumerable informal tutorials and access to the Royal Institutions archive, which holds so much of Tyndalls personal material, and I offer my heartfelt thanks. Thanks also to Charlotte New and Jane Harrison for advice and access to the collections and archiveincluding their discovery or rediscovery of letters and other materialand to others who work or have worked in the collections: Wahida Amin, Rupert Cole, David Coombes, Katherine Doyle, Harriet Lloyd, and Laurence Scales.

The Royal Institution is associated with University College London (UCL). I am grateful to Joe Cain and the Department of Science and Technology Studies at UCL for a Research Associateship.

The Athenaeum was Tyndalls home from home, strategically placed between the Royal Institution, the Royal Society, and Westminster. The library and archive staff, including Kay Walters, Jennie de Protani, and Laura Doran, have been of great help, as has Michael Wheeler, authority on the Clubs history and much besides.

In the world of mountaineering, I am indebted to the staff and many volunteers of the Alpine Club Library, including Hywel Lloyd, Glyn Hughes, and Tadeusz Hudowski, and to others with knowledge of the history of mountaineering: Clare Roche, Sir Brian Smith, Ian Smith, and, in St Moritz/Pontresina, Diane Conrad.

Graham Farmelo and Helen Haste gave me much wise advice at an early stage, and others have offered valuable information and perspectives: Michael Bailey, Geoffrey Boulton, Robert Bud, Aileen Christianson, Miguel DeArce, Norman Denison, Martina Drkop, Julia Elton, Gabriel Finkelstein, Aileen Fyfe, Angus Hawkins, Bruce Hunt, Philip Hunt, Fredrik Jonsson, Paul Kerry, Philip Meredith, Charles Mollan, Sir John Rowlinson, Lin Skippings, Nick Snook, Gregory Tate, James Ungureanu, and a mystery reader.

The social network of Twitter is particularly useful to the historical researcher. @ProfTyndall is on Twitter, as is @Roland_Jackson. Many have offered help, whether they know it or not, through their levels of activity and interaction, including (in addition to many of the above): Thony Christie, Vanessa Heggie, Rebekah Higgitt, James Sumner, Ed Hawkins, @EduBoisReymond, and @GuyCallendar.

It was a pleasure to visit Elton Hall, home of Louisas mothers family, at the invitation of Sir William Proby, Louisas great-great-nephew. I thank both him and the archivist, Jenny Burt.

My visit to Carlow and Leighlinbridge was also a delight. I thank Dermot Mulligan, John Shortall, and their staff for access to the Carlow County Museum and Carlow County Library. I am grateful to Norman McMillan, Martin Nevin, and Kevin Higgins for their local knowledge, insights, and company by the banks of the River Barrow.

While so much material can now be found online, my thanks to the following for specific information or access to physical archives: Lord Avebury, John Lubbocks great-grandson; Anna Sander, Balliol College, Oxford; Colin Harris, Bodleian Libraries, Oxford University; staff of the British Library; Dave Shawyer, BT Archives; Adam Perkins, Frank Bowles and staff of Cambridge University Library; Steven Leclair, Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information, National Research Council; Natalie Midgley, Central Library, Halifax; Helen Harrison, Harrow School; Stephanie Arias, Huntington Library, San Marino, California; Anne Barrett, Imperial College Library; Lord Inglewood, Louisa Tyndalls great-great-nephew; Ourania Karapasia and James Peters, John Rylands Library, Manchester; staff of the London Metropolitan Archives; staff of the National Archives, Kew; David McClay, National Library of Scotland; Carsten Lind and Katharina Schaal, Archiv der Philipps-Universitt Marburg; Sir David Pollock, descendant of Frederick and Juliet Pollock; Charlotte Murray and Verity Andrews, Reading University; Elizabeth Harper and John Willans, Royal Albert Hall; Rupert Baker, Joanna Corden, Katherine Ford, Katherine Harrington, Joanna Hopkins, Fiona Keates, Keith Moore, and staff of the Royal Society Library; Bob Richardson, St Bride Foundation; Grace Timmins, Tennyson Research Centre, Lincoln; Jonathan Smith and James Kirwan, Trinity College, Cambridge; Christopher Hilton and staff, Wellcome Library; Daniel Sudron, West Yorkshire Archive Service, Calderdale.