Evening star., 1932-04-24
AMERICAN SCIENCE HONORS
JOSEPH HENRY'S MEMORY
National Academy Will Devote Special
Session to Tribute This Week.
Life Works Recalled.

realms Of the imagination, but always
oriented to facts At the commemo-
rative session Henry's work as a
physicist. as an electrical pioneer and,
above all, as an administrator will be
iauded.
The man whose intellect was destined
10 become the corner stone Of a new
age, teeming with unimaginable won
ders, was born in Albany in 1899. He
idled through a dreamy and aimless
boyhood. somewhat to the alarm of his
practical Scotch relatives. He was
reading onstantly-novels, poetry and
especially Shakespeare. His head was
filled with romance. One of his earli
est ambitions was to become an actor
He organized juvenile theatrical COM
pany and translated a French play
for it. Science lay largely beyond his
horizon.
No Cause for Regrets.
But Joseph Henry never regretted
that boyhood. Upon his memories of
1t, it is likely. he formulated philoso-
ply of development which lies still on
the horizon of educational psychology
Cultivation of the imagination" he
wrote, should be considered an essen
tial part of life education. Like the
continue to improve until late in life
Memory, imitation, imagination and the
faculty of forming mental habits exist
in early life, while the Judgment and
reasoning faculties are of slower
growth"
His anxious relatives apprenticed him
to a matchmaker. Curiously enough.
the man whose mechanical genius was
to be potent force in Transforming
the face of civilization found this me-
chanical work distasteful and soon quit.
He could not exercise his highly de-
veloped imagination in the routine,
however delicate, making of watches
When he was 16 there came in the
life OF Henry one of those curious trans
formations which so often have been
the turning points of history. He hap
pened upon book of scientific lee
lures" by an English clergyman. writ
ten for popular consumption. However
amateuriSh and inadequate, it served to
strike fire to the boys Imagination.
This book" he wrote, although by
no means profound work, has under
Providence, exerted a remarkable effect
on my life. It accidentally fell into my
hands when was about 16 years old
New World of Thought
. ~ OpCHco 70 me new world OF
thought, invested things almost un-
noticed before with the highest interest
and fixed my mind on the study of
nature"
He started to attend the ALBANY
Academy and in 1926 became professor
of mathematics there. The next wear
witnessed the beginning of one of his
most noteworthy accomplishments.
There was a popular toy of the day
which was used in exhibits of parlor
magic to pick up bits of iron. Joseph
Henry transformed that toy into the
electric magnet and discovered the law
OF the relationship between the electro
motive force in battery and the re-
sistance in a magnet. This was the
principle upon which, few years later,
the first OF the great distance an
nihilators, the telegraph, was con-
structed
In 1929 or 80 Henry was able to
pass current through a wire 1850
feet long and lift considerable weight
at the other end. Later he was able
to make a bell ring over 5000 feet
of wire. He continued to construct
stronger and stronger magnets, finally
producing one, now preserved at the
Smithsonian Institution, which lifted a
weight Of 5000 pounds.
Other discoveries by Henry are the
basic principles involved in the pres
ent-day electric motor. The electric
railway grew directly out of his work
at Albany. He was the joint discoverer
with the great English physicist, Fara-
day, of the induction of electricity
CONTINUED on Fourth Page.)