Royal Institution, Albemarle Street | 15th November 1853.
Dear Sir
From three several communications, for which I am indebted to the kindness of three members2 of the Council of the Royal Society,3 I learned that the Council had awarded me the Royal Medal.4 I did not seek the honour thus conferred upon me, but I regarded it as the spontaneous utterance of the Council’s opinion of my labours, and valued it accordingly.
This morning I have learned that some Members of the Council5 have, on more mature consideration, found reason to doubt the wisdom of the award. They are not convinced of the originality of my labours,6 nor perhaps of its worthiness, even if original. On the former point the knowledge I possess needs no ratification; but with regard to the latter, I am anxious, without a moment’s unnecessary delay, to place the Council in an unpledged position, and to restore to it that perfect freedom of action which it enjoyed before, in a moment of precipitancy apparently, it made the medal mine. I share to the fullest extent the conviction evidently entertained by the Council that such awards ought not to be lightly made, and I should be doubly unworthy of any such distinction were I willing to accept it while coloured by a doubt. While prosecuting those inquiries which have for a moment attracted the notice of the Council, there was no Royal medal before my eyes; it is an object at which I never aimed – a consummation on which I never based a hope. And whatever may have been the pleasure which the award imparted to me, it was, I believe, inferior in kind to that with which I now resign all claim to the medal, and thus restore to the Council the liberty of making a better choice.
I have the honour to be, dear Sir | Your most obedient servant | John Tyndall.
Samuel Hunter Christie Esq. | Secretary of the Royal Society &c. &c. &c.
RI MS JT/1/T/579
RI MS JT/5/12/f23
RI MS JT/2/13b/637
15 November 1853: the original letter is missing. The version relied on here is a copy written in Tyndall’s hand (RI MS JT/1/579). There is also a typescript version in his journal (16 November, JT/2/13b/637) and another typescript copy of that version with LT’s annotations (RI MS JT/5/12/f23).
three several communications … kindness of three members: see letters 0821 (from John Peter Gassiot) and 0822 (from Edward Sabine). The third member is unidentified.
Council of the Royal Society: see letter 0816, n. 7.
the Royal Medal: see letter 0815, n. 3.
some Members of the Council: on 15 November, Tyndall recorded that Gassiot informed him that some Members of the Council were in objection to Tyndall receiving the Royal Medal. He stated, ‘It appears that certain people have set about sifting my claim and have contrived to get up an opposition against me. They say that my investigations were partly conducted along with Knoblauch and partly in the private cabinet of Prof. Magnus in Berlin, and add something regarding Plücker which I don’t understand’ (Journal, JT/2/13b/636). Tyndall later learned that William Hopkins, a member of the Council, who was not present when the decision regarding the Royal Medal was made, opposed his win. Charles Wheatstone, who was not a member of the Council, was also against Tyndall receiving the Royal Medal (Jackson, ‘Tyndall and the Royal Medal’, pp. 157–8).
my work: Tyndall was to receive the Royal Medal for his work on diamagnetism (see letter 0821, n. 4).
Please cite as “Tyndall0828,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on