Nicholas Callan

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Nicholas Callan : biography

22 December 1799 – January 10, 1864

Father Nicholas Joseph Callan (1799 – 1864) was an Irish priest and scientist from Darver, Co. Louth, Ireland. He was Professor of Natural Philosophy in Maynooth College near Dublin from 1834, and is best known for his work on the induction coil.

Publications

  • Electricity and Galvanism (introductory textbook), 1832

Early life and education

He attended school at an academy in Dundalk. His local parish priest, Father Andrew Levins, then took him in hand as an altar boy and Mass server, and saw him start the priesthood at Navan seminary. He entered Maynooth College in 1816. In his third year at Maynooth, Callan studied natural and experimental philosophy under Dr. Cornelius Denvir. He introduced the experimental method into his teaching, and had an interest in electricity and magnetism.

Callan was ordained a priest in 1823 and went to Rome to study at Sapienza University, obtaining a doctorate in divinity in 1826. While in Rome he became acquainted with the work of the pioneers in electricity such as Luigi Galvani (1737–1798) who was a pioneer in modern obstetrics and Alessandro Volta (1745–1827) who is known especially for the development of the electric battery. In 1826, Callan returned to Maynooth as the new Professor of Natural Philosophy (now called physics), where he also began working with electricity in his basement laboratory at the college. Reville, William. Nicholas Callan: Priest Scientist at Maynooth. The Irish Times, February 21, 2002.

The ‘Maynooth Battery’ and other inventions

Callan experimented with designing batteries after he found the models available to him at the time to be insufficient for research in electromagnetism. The Year-book of Facts in Science and Art, published in 1849,The Year-book of Facts in Science and Art (p.156), 1849, John Timbs has an article titled "The Maynooth Battery" which begins "We noticed this new and cheap Voltaic Battery in the Year-book of Facts, 1848, p. 14,5. The inventor, the Rev. D. Callan, Professor of Natural Philosophy in Maynooth College, has communicated to the Philosophical Magazine, No. 219, some additional experiments, comparing the power of a cast-iron (or Maynooth) battery with that of a Grove’s of equal size." Some previous batteries had used rare metals such as platinum or unresponsive materials like carbon and zinc. Callan found that he could use inexpensive cast-iron instead of platinum or carbon. For his Maynooth battery he used iron casting for the outer casing and placed a zinc plate was immersed in a porous pot (pot that had an inside and outside chamber for holding two different types of acid) in the centre. In the single fluid cell he disposed of the porous pot and two different fluids. He was able to build a battery with just a single solution.

While experimenting with batteries, Callan also built the world’s largest battery at that time. To construct this battery, he joined together 577 individual batteries ("cells"), which used over 30 gallons of acid.Nicholas Callan (July 1848) Philosophical Magazine, series 3, vol. 33, no. 219, pages 49-53. Since instruments for measuring current or voltages had not yet been invented, Callan measured the strength of a battery by measuring how much weight his electromagnet could lift when powered by the battery. Using his giant battery, Callan’s electromagnet lifted 2 tons.M.T. Casey (December 1985) "Nicholas Callan — priest, professor and scientist," IEE Proceedings, vol. 132, pt. A, no. 8, pages 491-497; see especially page 492. Available on-line at: http://eprints.nuim.ie/1767/1/CaseyCallan.pdf . The Maynooth battery went into commercial production in London. Callan also discovered an early form of galvanisation to protect iron from rusting when he was experimenting on battery design, and he patented the idea.Callan, Nicholas, "A means of protecting iron of every kind against the action of the weather and of various corroding substances so that iron thus protected will answer for roofing, cisterns, baths, gutters, pipes, window-frames, telegraph-wires for marine and various other purposes," British patent no. 2340 (filed: October 12, 1853; issued: November 25, 1853). See: The Mechanics’ Magazine, vol. 59, no. 1576, (October 22, 1853).