Joseph Henry

the most significant words in this statement are old enough for they show that even before powell had explored the colorado he had somehow come to understand that a large muddy river must rapidly acquire a graded course even though at the bottom of a deep caon still enclosed by high walls Powell returned from the West by rail to Chicago in the spring of 1869 to get boats for the expedition.

It was organized as a geographical and geological survey, supported by an appropriation from Congress, and placed under the direction of the Smithsonian Institution, of which the then Secretary, Joseph Henry, advised that the collection of ethnological data should be made a leading feature of the journey.

the party consisted of ten men they embarked may twenty fourth eighteen sixty nine in four boats where the union pacific railroad crosses the green river in southwestern wyoming followed green river through deep gorges in the uinta mountains to its junction in open country with the grand river below which point the name colorado is given then continued down the colorado through its profound canyons and the plateaus of southeastern utah and northern arizona to the open country near the nevada line on august twenty ninth singularly enough no sufficient account of this adventurous journey was published until several years afterward although it attracted much notice at the time a few brief summaries regarding the canyon and the adjacent region are buried in the congressional documents of the early seventies but powell did not at first intend to publish any full report of what he had done and seen his famous volume exploration of the colorado river of the west eighteen seventy five one of the best narratives of adventure anywhere to be found was not written until four or five years after the event and then only on the insistence of representative later president garfield as powell tells in eighteen ninety five in the preface to his popular book the canyons of the colorado in addition to his report of eighteen seventy five several articles were contributed to popular science monthly and to scribner's magazine for that year the country traversed was of exceptional interest and his articles awakened widespread attention his official report treated the journey in a singularly free and unconventional manner for powell reproduced his original diary keeping the narrative in the present tense as when written in the canyon with the result of giving a vivacity to his story unusual in government publications yet one may read it without learning that the author had lost his right forearm the climax of the journey is reached when after the party had made nearly all the dangerous distance in a little less than three months three of the men insist that further progress is too perilous and that the river must be abandoned they seek a way out by climbing up to the plateau surface the others persist in following the river and that very afternoon come upon a group of the most dangerous falls in the whole journey it is interesting to note that these falls do not constitute an exception to powell's expectation that the river must have already graded its course in the uplifted rocks of the plateaus for the obstruction which here caused the falls was formed in an exceptional manner by flows of lava that had in altogether unpredictable fashion cascaded down from the volcanoes of the uinkaret plateau on the north so recently that they have not yet been cleared away by the river as these falls are approached from up stream there is no possibility of seeing their face and choosing the least dangerous point for descent the walls are too steep for a portage along the bank so one of the men bradley approaches the brink of the fall in a boat held by a tow-line from the cliffs the current soon becomes so strong that the boat cannot be drawn back bradley promptly cuts the line and plunges over the falls whirling in waves and foam sinking out of sight rising again safe on board and waving his hat powell then tells his own manner of descent with two of his men we run to the other boat jump aboard push out and away we go over the falls a wave rolls over us and our boat is unmanageable another great wave strikes us the boat rolls over and tumbles and tosses i know not how all i know is that bradley is picking us up we soon have all right again and row to the cliff and wait until sumner and w h powell can come along the wall after a difficult climb they reach us we run two or three miles farther and turn again to the northwest continuing until night when we have run out of the granite once more an early start is made the next morning.

Quote, The river still continues swift, but we have no serious difficulty, and at twelve o'clock emerge from the Grand Canyon of the Colorado.

ETHNOLOGICAL WORK although powell is probably known to a greater number of persons as a geologist than as an ethnologist his publications on ethnology and anthropology and on the philosophical problems into which the study of these sciences led him are apart from purely administrative reports twice as numerous as those on geology and it appears that his contributions to the content of the sciences of Earth and of man stand in about the same proportion.

His active interest in ethnology began when he came into contact with the Indian tribes of western Colorado and eastern Utah in the summer of 1868.

It was probably reinforced by Secretary Henry's advice that special study of the Indians should be made during the canyon journey.

of the next year but more important than its origin is the nature of the interest that powell felt in ethnology for it had the merit of being characterized by a willingness to recognize other standards than those of the civilized races of mankind by a ready capacity to appreciate the position of the other fellow and by a sincere respect for humanity in all its stages of development these are largely matters of temperament not of learning they are of prime importance to an ethnologist in the office as well as in the field gilbert gave emphasis to this point when he wrote that powell realized as perhaps few had realized before him that the point of view of the savage is essentially different from that of the civilized man that just as his music cannot be recorded in the notation of civilized music, just as his words cannot be written with the English alphabet, so the structure of his language transcends the formula of the Aryan grammars, and his philosophy and social organization follow lines unknown to the European.

Not having enough money to pay the cost of such a journey, he borrowed the price of a return ticket from Sanders and arranged to stay with a friend in Washington to save a hotel bill that he could not afford.

At that time, Professor Joseph Henry, who knew more of the theory of electrical science than any other American, was the grand old man of Washington, and poor Bell, in his doubt and desperation, resolved to run to him for advice.

Then came a meeting which deserves to be historic.

For an entire afternoon, the two men worked together over the apparatus that Bell had brought from Boston, just as Henry had worked over the telegraph before Bell was born.

It was a moment of tense expectancy.

No one knew clearly what was about to happen.

When the emperor, with a dramatic gesture, raised his head from the receiver and exclaimed with a look of utter amazement, My God, it talks! Next came to the receiver the oldest scientist in the group, the venerable Joseph Henry, whose encouragement to Bell had been so timely.

He stopped to listen, and as one of the bystanders afterwards said, no one could forget the look of awe that came into his face as he heard that iron disc talking with a human voice.

First hospital in colonies, founded by Dr. Thomas Bond, Welsh.

Physics Our greatest electrical wizards have been Joseph Henry, Scotch-Irish, who helped to invent the telegraph, Charles Steinmetz, German-Polish, mathematical genius and electrical scientist, who had one of the world's most inventive minds, Thomas Edison, Scot-Netherlander, who invented electric light bulb and phonograph, Michael Pupin, Yugoslav, who perfected tuning-in mechanism of radio, Nikola Tesla, Yugoslav, who made extensive use of electrical power possible.

Vladimir Karapetov, Armenian, inventor of electrical devices.

Most distinguished physicist on light rays is Albert A. Mickelson, German Jew.

Airplane builders are Igor Sorgorsky, Russian, Blanka, Italian, Douglas, Scot, Boeing, German, and Curtis, English-German.

Communication The telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell, Scot.

The telegraph was invention of Joseph Henry and Samuel Morse, Scotch-Irish.

Steam Cylinder Printing Press, making possible our great daily newspapers, was brainchild of Robert Ho, English.

But here's the thing that I really found fascinating.

They, they, uh, put Joseph Henry in charge of this institution, and he, using his bureaucratic powers, was able to steer it to the direction which he wanted, which was to focus on new research and new research production.

Right.

That, um, yeah, that, that kind of hodgepodge or all of it together, it's kind of, um, I love that your, your, um, chapter titles are all a national, a national, a national.

Um, it, it's not a big deal now because of the way systems work now.

But, um, this project allowed me to see where that began, actually.

So the guy who was Jo- uh, Joseph Henry's, um, foil, who was a, um, a librarian, his name was Charles Jewett.

Um, he ended up becoming the head of the Boston, uh, library, um, after he got fired by Joseph Henry.

Not having enough money to pay the cost of such a journey, he borrowed the price of a return ticket from Sanders, and arranged to stay with a friend in Washington to save a hotel bill that he could not afford.

At that time, Professor Joseph Henry, who knew more of the theory of electrical science than any other American, was the grand old man of Washington, and poor Bell, in his doubt and desperation, resolved to run to him for advice.

Then came a meeting which deserves to be historic.

For an entire afternoon, the two men worked together over the apparatus that Bell had brought from Boston, just as Henry had worked over the telegraph before Bell was born.

A wire had been strung from one end of the room to the other, and while Bell went to the transmitter, Dom Pedro took up the receiver and placed it to his ear.

It was a moment of tense expectancy.

No one knew clearly what was about to happen, when the emperor, with a dramatic gesture, raised his head from the receiver and exclaimed with a look of utter amazement, My God, it talks! Next came to the receiver the oldest scientist in the group, the venerable Joseph Henry, whose encouragement to Bell had been so timely.

He stopped to listen, and as one of the bystanders afterwards said, no one could forget the look of awe that came into his face as he heard that iron disc talking with a human voice.

Now let me take you back to January 24, 1865, a bitter cold afternoon in Washington.

Joseph Henry, the first secretary of the Smithsonian, is working in his second-floor office inside the iconic Castle building on the National Mall.

He hears a crackling above his head.

Within minutes, the building is engulfed.

We can control also the power of the electromagnet, that is, the size of the load it will lift.

The man who taught us how to do this was Joseph Henry, an American.

Instead of varnishing the iron core as Sturgeon had, to keep the electricity from flowing off or to insulate it, Henry insulated the copper wire by covering it with a wrapping of silk.

Instead of putting a single turn of wire round the iron core, he put many turns.