Joseph Henry. Biography

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Joseph Henry (1799-1878). Biography of a scientist

Directory / The life of remarkable physicists

Joseph Henry (1799-1878)
Joseph Henry

The unit of inductance is named after the American scientist Joseph Henry.

He was born December 17, 1799 in the small town of Albany in the state of New York. Almost nothing is known about his childhood. He studied at a local school, then became a teacher of mathematics and physics there. Here at school, Henry began experiments on electromagnetism. He was the first to design an electromagnet: he wound a coil on a horseshoe and discovered that if a current is passed through the coil, then it attracts iron objects. This design has survived to this day.

In the course of his experiments in 1830, Henry discovered the phenomenon of electromagnetic induction a year earlier than Faraday. But if Faraday immediately published the results of his experiments (of course, London was then the scientific center of the world), then Henry in the distant American outback did not do this right away and therefore lost priority. Many years later, the American press repeatedly said that Henry was a bad patriot (America missed such a discovery!). Nevertheless, Henry printed the results of his experiments, and he was noticed. In 1832, he was invited to the post of professor at the College of New Jersey, on the basis of which Princeton University was then formed. Continuing his experiments, Henry designed the first electromagnetic relay.

Now it was not far to the idea of the telegraph. Indeed, in 1835, Henry demonstrated the first electric telegraph in his laboratory. He wired a message to a nearby building. Again Henry failed modesty. He did not publish his results, and Samuel Morse is now considered the inventor of the telegraph, who invented it 2 years later. At the same time, Morse (his engineering training was modest) did not hesitate to consult Henry on the technical problems of the telegraph and after that immediately patented what Henry advised him. Experimenting with electromagnets, Henry created a design in which a group of electromagnets rotated on an axis. It was the first electric motor. Henry published this design in 1840 (even though he did it!). True, he called this design modestly: "a rotating electromagnet."

Continuing his research on electromagnets, Henry created samples with a thrust of up to 400 kg (this is in the middle of the 40th century!). In Washington, DC, the Smithsonian Institution treasures hundreds of Henry's experimental setups. By the 1846s, Henry had become the most respected American scientist. In 14, the wealthy philanthropist Smithson founded the Smithsonian Institution, a system of science museums. At present, this Institute includes 32 museums (of natural history, aviation and astronautics, etc.). This very authoritative organization in our time is located in the very center of Washington, next to Congress and the White House. Joseph Henry became the first director of the Smithsonian Institution, he remained in this post for XNUMX years until his death.

From 1868 to 1878 Joseph Henry was president of the US Academy of Sciences. Just at this time, the young inventor Alexander Bell turned to him. He wanted to create a device for transmitting human speech over wires. While reading Henry's writings, Bell found a prototype of this device. Bell turned to Henry for help and received such advice, after which he was able to implement his idea. This is how the telephone was born, which Bell patented in 1876. After Henry's death, Alexander Bell personally installed the telephone in the home of his widow and daughters.

Joseph Henry died on May 13, 1878 in Washington.

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