biography
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1797–1878)
|
| biography:
| Physicist, born in Albany, New York, USA. He worked as a tutor, then as a surveyor (1825–6) before becoming a professor at his alma mater, Albany Academy (1826–32). He began research on electromagnetism (1827), constructed the first electromagnetic motor (1829), and discovered electrical induction independent of English physicist Michael Faraday. The henry unit of inductance is named after him. He continued his research after transferring to Princeton (1832–46), demonstrating the oscillatory nature of electrical discharges (1842), and diversifying into the fields of astronomy, galvanometry, and telegraphy. In 1846 he was named first secretary and director of the Smithsonian Institution, and through his leadership (1846–77) it supported internationally cooperative scientific research. While administrative duties left him little time for the ‘pure’ scientific endeavours he favoured, he introduced a system of weather forecasting, investigated the propagation of light and sound waves by lighthouses, and encouraged the museum's patronage of anthropology and ethnology. |
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