RARE! "Smithsonian Institution" Joseph Henry Signed Journal Photo

Description

Up for auction "Smithsonian Institution" Joseph Henry FACSIMILE Signed Journal Photo From 1852.
ES-3123D
Joseph Henry
(December 17, 1797 – May 13, 1878) was an American scientist who served as the first Secretary of the
Smithsonian Institution
. He was the secretary for the
National Institute for the Promotion of Science
, a precursor of the Smithsonian Institution. He was highly regarded during his lifetime. While building electromagnets, Henry discovered the
electromagnetic
phenomenon of self-
inductance
. He also discovered mutual inductance independently of
Michael Faraday
, though Faraday was the first to make the discovery and publish his results. Henry developed the
electromagnet
into a practical device. He invented a precursor to the electric
doorbell
(specifically a bell that could be rung at a distance via an electric wire, 1831)
[5]
and electric
relay
(1835). The
SI
unit of
inductance
, the
Henry
, is named in his honor. Henry's work on the electromagnetic relay was the basis of the practical
electrical telegraph
, invented by
Samuel F. B. Morse
and
Sir Charles Wheatstone
, separately. Henry was born in
Albany, New York
, to Scottish immigrants Ann Alexander Henry and William Henry. His parents were poor, and Henry's father died while he was still young. For the rest of his childhood, Henry lived with his grandmother in
Galway, New York
. He attended a school which would later be named the "Joseph Henry Elementary School" in his honor. After school, he worked at a general store, and at the age of thirteen became an apprentice
watchmaker
and
silversmith
. Joseph's first love was theater and he came close to becoming a professional actor. His interest in science was sparked at the age of sixteen by a book of lectures on scientific topics titled
Popular Lectures on Experimental Philosophy
. In 1819 he entered
The Albany Academy
, where he was given free tuition. Even with free tuition he was so poor that he had to support himself with teaching and private tutoring positions. He intended to go into medicine, but in 1824 he was appointed an assistant engineer for the
survey
of the State road being constructed between the
Hudson River
and
Lake Erie
. From then on, he was inspired to a career in either
civil
or
mechanical engineering
.
Henry excelled at his studies (so much so, he would often help his teachers teach science) and in 1826 was appointed Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at
The Albany Academy
by Principal
T. Romeyn Beck
. Some of his most important research was conducted in this new position. His curiosity about
terrestrial magnetism
led him to experiment with
magnetism
in general. He was the first to coil insulated wire tightly around an iron core in order to make a more powerful
electromagnet
, improving on
William Sturgeon
's electromagnet which used loosely coiled uninsulated wire. Using this technique, he built the strongest electromagnet at the time, for
Yale
. He also showed that, when making an electromagnet using just two
electrodes
attached to a battery, it is best to wind several coils of wire in parallel, but when using a set-up with multiple batteries, there should be only one single long coil. The latter made the
telegraph
feasible. Because of his early experiments in electromagnetism some historians credit Henry with discoveries pre-dating Faraday and Hertz; however, Henry is not credited due to not publishing his work.
Using his newly developed electromagnetic principle, in 1831, Henry created one of the first machines to use electromagnetism for motion. This was the earliest ancestor of modern
DC motor
. It did not make use of rotating motion, but was merely an electromagnet perched on a pole, rocking back and forth. The rocking motion was caused by one of the two leads on both ends of the magnet rocker touching one of the two battery cells, causing a polarity change, and rocking the opposite direction until the other two leads hit the other battery. This apparatus allowed Henry to recognize the property of
self inductance
. British scientist
Michael Faraday
also recognized this property around the same time. Since Faraday published his results first, he became the officially recognized discoverer of the phenomenon. From 1832 to 1846, Henry served as the first Chair of Natural History at the College of New Jersey (now
Princeton University
).
While in Princeton, he taught a wide range of courses including
natural history
, chemistry, and architecture, and ran a laboratory on campus. Decades later, Henry wrote that he made "several thousand original investigations on electricity, magnetism, and electro-magnetism" while on the Princeton faculty.
Henry relied heavily on an African American research assistant, Sam Parker, in his laboratory and experiments. Parker was a free black man hired by the Princeton trustees to assist Henry. In an 1841 letter to mathematician
Elias Loomis
, Henry wrote: