JOSEPH HENRY: Father of Electronics

by Patricia Jahns ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 15, 1970

At least the substance if not the science of the man comes to life here, with relatively few Hallmark devices: his late blooming is treated not as recalcitrance but with sympathy and direction; his insecurity and indecisiveness as a 'public' inventor (Henry's discoveries were pre-empted by later experimenters quicker to publish) emerge as central themes; his directorship of the Smithsonian Institute is presented with all its attendant political ramifications--as is the allied turmoil of representing science in government during the Civil War. However, his work in electromagnetism and derivative work in telegraphy is reported in the shallow, flat manner of a dictionary definition--neither reflecting nor, therefore, yielding any spark of conceptual understanding. (It is particularly unfortunate in view of this weakness that Sarah Riedman's 1961 biography, Trailblazer of American Science, has been unavailable for comparison.) The meaty personal and intellectual history of Joseph Henry's interactions--with men like Lincoln, Morse, and Bell, with Princeton University and its students, with his own wife and family--far outclass the account of his inventions. The result is a creditable reconstruction of a creative individual of strong earnest character, but a cursory, mechanical scientific exposition that will not advance the initiate or instruct the novice.

Pub Date: May 15, 1970

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Prentice-Hall

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1970

Categories: NONFICTION