The Bell System Technical Journal 



July, 1932 



Henry as an Electrical Pioneer 



By BANCROFT GHERARDI 



An address presented at the Meeting of the National Academy of Sciences, 

 April 25, 1932, at Washington, D. C. in commemoration of the Hundredth 

 Anniversary of the Electrical Discoveries of Joseph Henry. 



The author expresses his appreciation of the researches of Dr. Harold 

 S. Osborne and Mr. A. M. Dowling in establishing many of the facts upon 

 which this address is based, and of other assistance in its preparation. This 

 research developed many facts of interest and its results are separately 

 published as a supplement to this issue of the Bell System Technical Journal. 



THIS evening we are gathered together to celebrate the hundredth 

 anniversary of the electrical discoveries of Joseph Henry. I have 

 been assigned the honorable and pleasant duty of speaking of Henry's 

 work as an electrical pioneer. According to the Century Dictionary, a 

 pioneer is one who goes before and leads or prepares the way for others 

 coming after, specifically, the first or early explorer or experimenter in 

 any department of human enterprise. Surely no one is better entitled 

 to the honorable title of pioneer than is Joseph Henry. 



Let us look a bit at what this country was about 100 years ago. 

 The population of the United States in 1830 was 12,900,000. The 

 largest city in the country, New York, had a population of 203,000. 

 Philadelphia was the next largest city with 80,000. Washington, the 

 capital of the nation, had a population of 18,800, which included 2,330 

 slaves. There were twenty-four states in the Union and of these the 

 most westerly was Missouri. Chicago, now the second city of the 

 country, was just being laid out near Fort Dearborn and was not 

 organized as a village until 1833. Detroit, now the fourth city, had a 

 population of 2,222 and Cleveland had 1,076. 



Highways were largely trails or unpaved roads. Canals played an 

 important part in the transportation system of the country. The 

 first railroad in the United States began operation by steam in 1830. 

 In 1836 trains between Albany and Schenectady were still pulled by 

 horses. The first steamship, equipped with both sails and steam, had 

 crossed the ocean in 1819, but it was not until 1838 that a ship de- 

 pending primarily upon steam for its propelling power made the 

 transatlantic trip. Communications were solely dependent upon 

 transportation and subject to all of its uncertainties and lack of speed. 



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