Inventors
Joseph
Henry (1797-1878)
By
Mary
Bellis
Joseph Henry was an important American
scientist of the 19th century, the first Director of the Smithsonian Institution
(1846), and one of the founding members of the National Academy of Science.
Henry independently discovered electromagnetic self-induction in 1831,
however the credit goes to Michael Faraday
for being first. Henry is also credited with the invention of an electric
motor, however, again not the first. In 1830, Joseph Henry, demonstrated
the potential of a William Sturgeon device
for long distance communication by sending an electronic current over one
mile of wire to activate an electromagnet which caused a bell to strike.
Thus the electric telegraph was born, however,
other inventors made a commercial success of that invention.
 Joseph
Henry - Fathers of Electricity
Joseph Henry began a wide series of experiments
and investigations which touched so many phases of the great problem of
electricity including: the phenomena of self induction and mutual induction.
Part 2: Joseph
Henry - Basis For the Electric Telegraph,
Magnetic Engine, Smithsonian Institution Part 3: Joseph
Henry - Other Achievements
Papers
of Joseph Henry
The Joseph Henry Papers Project
documents the life of Joseph Henry (1797-1878), American scientist and
the first Director of the Smithsonian Institution. Joseph Henry's pioneering
work in electricity and magnetism helped
bring about the invention of the telegraph,
the electric motor, and the telephone.
"But for Joseph Henry, I
would never have gone ahead with the telephone." - Alexander Graham Bell
Joseph
Henry's Contributions to the Electromagnet and the Electric Motor
At the beginning of his career as
an investigator of electromagnetism, in the fall of 1827, Joseph Henry
took up a simple idea, and soon found that it led him to some remarkable
results.
In 1893, Joseph Henry's name was
given to the standard electrical unit of inductive resistance, the "henry."
Joseph
Henry
Joseph Henry chief scientific contributions
were in the field of electromagnetism, where he discovered the phenomenon
of self-inductance.
Joseph
Henry 1797-1878
Biography and extracts of writing.
Related Information
Magnetic
Fields - History of Magnets and Electromagnetism
History of the discovery of electromagnetism
by Oersted and Ampere.
Smithsonian
Institution
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