Adrenaline Junkie: The Ascent of John Tyndall

On 21 December 1859 John Tyndall, a professor of natural philosophy at the Royal Institution, set out to measure the structure and movements of the Mer de Glace, a glacier above Chamonix. These qualities stood Tyndall in good stead when he was invited to lecture at the Royal Institution in February 1853, in front of Faraday, its superintendent, and some of the most eminent and fashionable names in metropolitan science. Tyndall had acquired his pulpit and for the next 34 years he was the Royal Institution’s foremost teacher of natural philosophy.

Source: www.lrb.co.uk