PHYSICIST

Joseph Henry

1797 - 1878

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Joseph Henry (December 17, 1797– May 13, 1878) was an American physicist and inventor 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 also served as president of the National Academy of Sciences from 1868 to 1878. While building electromagnets, Henry discovered the electromagnetic phenomenon of self-inductance. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Joseph Henry is the 161st most popular physicist (down from 114th in 2019), the 542nd most popular biography from United States (down from 396th in 2019) and the 25th most popular American Physicist.

Joseph Henry was an American physicist and inventor. He is most famous for his invention of the electric motor.

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Among PHYSICISTS

Among physicists, Joseph Henry ranks 161 out of 851. Before him are Javier Solana, Jean-Baptiste Biot, Frits Zernike, Felix Bloch, Hans Georg Dehmelt, and Johann Jakob Balmer. After him are Hippolyte Fizeau, Augustin-Jean Fresnel, Georges Charpak, Gerd Binnig, Ernst Abbe, and Paul Langevin.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1797, Joseph Henry ranks 10. Before him are Gaetano Donizetti, Mary Shelley, Adolphe Thiers, Hiroshige, Shamil, 3rd Imam of Dagestan, and Ghalib. After him are Paul Delaroche, Charles Lyell, Maria Leopoldina of Austria, Ferdinand von Wrangel, Frederick Augustus II of Saxony, and Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Among people deceased in 1878, Joseph Henry ranks 6. Before him are Pope Pius IX, Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, Archduke Franz Karl of Austria, Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, and Claude Bernard. After him are Julius von Mayer, Charles-François Daubigny, Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, Elias Magnus Fries, George V of Hanover, and Ernst Heinrich Weber.

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Joseph Henry ranks 542 out of 20,380. Before him are Joe Frazier (1944), Willem Dafoe (1955), Jim Belushi (1954), Kim Basinger (1953), Sarah Vaughan (1924), and Daniel Boone (1734). After him are Anne Hathaway (1982), Buffalo Bill (1846), Robert Woodrow Wilson (1936), Danny Trejo (1944), John Malkovich (1953), and Raymond Chandler (1888).

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Among PHYSICISTS In United States

Among physicists born in United States, Joseph Henry ranks 25. Before him are Josiah Willard Gibbs (1839), Arthur Compton (1892), James Rainwater (1917), Robert Coleman Richardson (1937), Clifford Shull (1915), and John Bardeen (1908). After him are George E. Smith (1930), Leon Cooper (1930), Martin Lewis Perl (1927), Arthur Leonard Schawlow (1921), Burton Richter (1931), and Jerome Isaac Friedman (1930).

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