Joseph Henry is a famous American physicist, considered one of the most famous American scientists, he is put on a par with Benjamin Franklin. Henry created magnets, thanks to which he discovered a fundamentally new phenomenon in electromagnetism, which was called self-induction. In parallel with Faraday, he discovered mutual induction, but Faraday managed to publish the results of his research earlier. However, it was Henry's work that became the basis for the appearance of the electric telegraph, which was invented by Morse.
Biography of a scientist
Joseph Henry was born in 1797. He was born in the state of New York, in the town of Albany. His mother and father were not rich, besides, the father of the hero of our article died early. Joseph was raised by his grandmother.
After graduating from elementary school, he went to work in a department store, and at the age of 13 he became an apprentice to a watchmaker. In his youth, Joseph Henry was very fond of the theater, he even almost became a professionalactor, but at the age of 16 his interest in science woke up after he accidentally came across a book called Popular Lectures on Experimental Philosophy.
So he decided to go to Albany Academy. Joseph Henry received higher education free of charge, but his family was so poor that even under this condition he had to constantly earn extra money by tutoring. Initially, he wanted to go into medicine, but in 1824 he was appointed assistant supervising engineer for the construction of a bridge between Lake Erie and the Hudson River. After that, the profession of an engineer simply absorbed him.
University studies
Joseph Henry, whose biography is given in this article, studied so well that he often helped teachers in teaching. Already in 1826 he was appointed professor of mathematics at the University of Albany.
The physicist Joseph Henry showed an increased interest in magnetism. He was the first to put into practice a new technology for creating an electromagnet, using windings of insulated wire, pre-wound on an iron core.
Joseph Henry's electromagnets were significantly different from those used by physicists before, since before everyone used bare wire. As a result, Henry managed to create the most powerful electromagnet of his time.
The next step in his work was the creation of a winding of several coils, which made it possible to further increase the lifting force of the electromagnet. He started posting up to tensimilar windings, so there were coils, later called bobbins.
Science experiments
The variety of Henry's scientific experiments is simply amazing. In 1831, he created a model of an electric motor with oscillating motion. He understood that it was a "physical toy", but he hoped that in the future his invention could be used in practice.
The basis of this invention was the principle of reciprocating motion, which in the future was applied in a steam engine. The exclusivity of this idea is also evidenced by the fact that the first inventors of the steamboat proposed using a steam engine to set the oars in motion, thus replacing the rowers. At the same time, the first inventors of the steam locomotive sought to create moving mechanisms that would imitate the movement of the horse's legs.
Mentoring
When he became famous, young inventors and scientists began to turn to Henry, hoping to get practical advice from him. The hero of our article was friendly and indulgent with everyone, however, he treated everyone with humor.
Among its visitors was Alexander Bell, who in 1875 wrote a letter to Henry to introduce himself. Joseph showed a keen interest in Bell's developments, the very next day he went to visit him.
After demonstrating his experiments, Bell talked about his not yet tested idea to transmit human speech with electricity, using an apparatus similar to a harmonica. Bell assumed that it would have steel tongues,tuned to different frequencies to cover the human voice spectrum. Henry immediately declared that this was the germ of a great invention. The only thing is that Henry did not recommend Bell to advertise his ideas until he finally improved his invention. When Bell remarked that he lacked knowledge, Henry strongly urged him to master it immediately.
Bell's Invention
After meeting Henry, Bell continued to improve his invention. In 1876, he demonstrated an experimental telephone of a different design at an exhibition in Philadelphia. On it, Henry acted as one of the experts of the electrical exposition.
In 1877, the hero of our article evaluated his inventions at the Smithsonian Institution. Henry encouraged Bell to demonstrate the invention to the Philosophical Society of Washington. Since 1852, Henry was appointed a member of the State Lighthouse Council, and then chairman of the Council, remaining in this post until the end of his days. He remained the only civilian chairman in history.
In 1878, Henry died in Washington at the age of 80.
Great Grandmaster
When studying Henry's biography, one can stumble upon the biography of his famous namesake, chess player Joseph Henry Blackburn. He was considered one of the strongest grandmasters on the planet in the second half of the 19th century.
Initially, he received a commercial education, was an excellent checkers player. I became interested in chess only at the age of 18. In 1869, Blackburn became the champion of Great Britain,considered one of the strongest in the country for 30 years. In 1914, Blackburn became British champion at the age of 72.
Rivals called him the "Black Death" because he always wore a shabby black suit and an old top hat, also black. According to another version, he also owed this nickname to his black beard. In chess, he followed a sharp attacking style, adhering to the spirit of the romantic chess masters of the old school. In a large number of games he won, playing black pieces.
The last time he competed at an international tournament was at the age of 73 in St. Petersburg.
Mr. Church
Another namesake of the great physicist is the protagonist of Susan McMartin's story, Mr. Henry Joseph Church. In 2016, Bruce Beresford directed a drama of the same name starring Eddie Murphy called "Mr. Church".
He shows up one day at the home of breast cancer patient Mary Brooks and her daughter Charlie. He is hired by Mary's ex-husband to look after her for the last six months of her life.
But after 6 months Mary lives, another 6 years pass, during which Mr. Church becomes a household attribute. Mary dies just after Charlie's graduation, and Church helps her get into Boston University. The girl's life is now permanently connected with this man, who is ready to help her at any moment.
