fbpx

KidsKonnect

Joseph Henry Facts & Worksheets

Joseph Henry was born on December 17, 1797, in New York. He was a scientist who worked primarily with electromagnetism.

Search for Worksheets

Worksheets /People /Figures /Joseph Henry Facts & Worksheets

Premium
Joseph Henry Worksheets
Not ready to purchase a subscription? Click to download the free sample version   Download sample

Joseph Henry was born on December 17, 1797, in New York. He was a scientist who worked primarily with electromagnetism. He also served as the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

See the fact file below for more information on the Joseph Henry or alternatively, you can download our 20-page Joseph Henry worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

EARLY LIFE OF JOSEPH HENRY

  • Joseph Henry was born to poor Scottish immigrants. When his father passed away at a young age, Henry went to live with his grandparents.
  • Henry attended school and initially took an interest in theatre and acting, and he almost decided to become an actor.
  • He worked at a general store until he was thirteen. Then, he became an apprentice watchmaker and silversmith.
  • It wasn’t until the age of approximately sixteen that Henry developed an interest in science, which was sparked by the book Popular Lectures on Experimental Philosophy.
  • In 1819, he enrolled in the Albany Academy under free tuition. Soon after, his natural scientific abilities came to fruition.
  • Throughout his time at the academy, his knack for explaining things and demonstrating scientific concepts helped his own teachers teach their lessons.
  • In 1824, he was appointed as assistant engineer for a construction project on a state road between the Hudson River and Lake Erie in New York. In 1826, he was appointed Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at the academy.
  • Outside of his teaching, Henry pursued scientific work that focused on terrestrial magnetism and other types of magnetism.

DESIGNING NEW MAGNETS

  • In 1829, Henry began making design improvements to the power of magnets and tinkered with different sizes.
  • He was the first to coil insulated wire around an iron core to make magnets more powerful, which was an improvement on the design of William Sturgeon (who made the first electromagnet).
  • By using more wire, he created greater magnetic field strength.
  • This enabled him to build a magnet at Yale College that could lift more than 2,000 pounds, which was very impressive at the time.
  • He later built magnets that could suspend over 3,500 pounds.

HENRY’S WORK ON INDUCTANCE

  • Inductance is what causes an electromotive force to be generated by a change in the current flowing through it.
  • Henry observed self inductance, which involves a single circuit instead of two, while working with his powerful electromagnets.
  • In 1831, Henry used this newly developed electromagnetic principle of self inductance for motion.
  • He created one of the first machines to use electromagnetism for  motion, which was a predecessor for the modern DC motor, which
    converts electrical energy into mechanical energy.
  • It was with this apparatus that Henry was able to fully recognize the property of self inductance, which was also discovered by another
    scientist named Michael Faraday around the same time.
  • Since Faraday published his results first, he is the one who became officially recognized for the discovery.
  • In 1832, Henry left the Albany Academy and accepted a job as professor at the College of New Jersey, which would later become Princeton University.
  • It was there that he developed an early telegraph that allowed for communication between his laboratory and his home.

LATER WORK AND LEGACY

  • Henry continued his research in New Jersey and discovered laws that apply to transformers (a device that transfers electrical energy from one alternating-current circuit to one or more other circuits while increasing or reducing the voltage).
  • While in New Jersey, he also discovered that currents could be induced at a distance. This was evident when he was able to magnetize a needle by using a lightning flash eight miles away.
  • In 1835, Henry worked with a fellow scientist, Edward Davy, to develop the mercury dipping electrical relay.
  • He also developed the intensity battery, which helped make the Morse telegraph possible by sending power over long wires.
  • After many improvements, the telegraph became the first wide-scale commercial use of energy in the 1840s.
  • His widespread success earned him distinction among the scientific and engineering communities in the United States.
  • He was voted to be the first Secretary of the Smithsonian on December 3, 1846.
  • He organized and supported a corps of volunteer weather observers and was one of Lincoln’s chief technical advisors during the Civil War.
  • Joseph Henry died on May 13, 1878, in Washington, D.C.
  • He was remembered as a patient and kind man.

Joseph Henry Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the Joseph Henry across 20 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Joseph Henry worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Joseph Henry who was born on December 17, 1797, in New York. He was a scientist who worked primarily with electromagnetism. He also served as the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Joseph Henry Facts
  • Aeronautical Work
  • Joseph Henry Crossword
  • Life and Career Timeline
  • Design a Stamp
  • Joseph Henry Wordsearch
  • Magnetism Vocabulary
  • Create a Quiz
  • The Henry
  • Electromagnetic Inquiry
  • Joseph Henry Acrostic

Link/cite this page

If you reference any of the content on this page on your own website, please use the code below to cite this page as the original source.

Link will appear as Joseph Henry Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, July 21, 2020

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

Related Resources