[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 169 (Friday, December 7, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12686-S12687]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 89--RECOGNIZING AND HONORING JOSEPH HENRY 
   FOR HIS SIGNIFICANT AND DISTINGUISHED ROLE IN THE DEVELOPMENT AND 
           ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE AND THE USE OF ELECTRICITY

  Mr. SCHUMER submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary:

                            S. Con. Res. 89

       Whereas Joseph Henry, a native of New York, deserves 
     recognition and honor for his

[[Page S12687]]

     distinguished contributions to the development and 
     advancement of science and the use of electricity and for his 
     public service to the United States during the 19th century;
       Whereas Joseph Henry was born December 17, 1797, in Albany, 
     New York, the son of William and Ann Henry;
       Whereas Joseph Henry served as an apprentice to John Doty, 
     a watchmaker and jeweler, in preparation for attendance at 
     the Albany Academy;
       Whereas from 1819 to 1822, Joseph Henry attended advanced 
     classes at the Albany Academy and, in the spring of 1826, was 
     elected to the professorship of Mathematics and Natural 
     Philosophy in the Albany Academy;
       Whereas Joseph Henry revolutionized scientific education by 
     using experiment-based teaching methods at the Albany 
     Academy, and in 1829 was awarded an honorary master's degree 
     by Union College, despite having no formal college education;
       Whereas Joseph Henry conducted many experiments with 
     electromagnets, which led to his successful design and 
     construction of an electromagnet capable of lifting 750 
     pounds;
       Whereas Joseph Henry continued to improve upon the 
     development of the electromagnet, building an electromagnet 
     for Yale University in 1831 that was capable of lifting 2,300 
     pounds, and another electromagnet in 1833, known as ``Big 
     Ben'', that was capable of lifting 3,500 pounds, and was, at 
     the time, the most powerful electromagnet ever built;
       Whereas in January 1831, Joseph Henry helped lay the 
     groundwork for the development of the electromagnetic 
     telegraph by distinguishing between quantity and intensity 
     magnets and by publishing those findings in the American 
     Journal of Science;
       Whereas the modern practical unit of induction is commonly 
     referred to as the ``Henry'' in honor of Joseph Henry's 
     research and discoveries regarding self-induction;
       Whereas Joseph Henry, while conducting research at the 
     Albany Academy, invented an electromagnetic motor made of a 
     horizontally poised bar electromagnet that would rock back 
     and forth as the current through it was automatically 
     reversed;
       Whereas Joseph Henry, while serving as Professor of Natural 
     Philosophy in the College of New Jersey at Princeton (later 
     renamed ``Princeton University''), conducted experiments from 
     1838 to 1842 that laid the theoretical groundwork for modern 
     step-up and step-down transformers;
       Whereas, on December 14, 1846, Joseph Henry was selected as 
     the first Secretary and Director of the Smithsonian 
     Institution;
       Whereas, in his first report to the Board of Regents of the 
     Smithsonian Institution, Joseph Henry proclaimed that the 
     purpose of the Smithsonian Institution, the increase and 
     diffusion of knowledge among men, would be best achieved by 
     supporting original research and providing for the wide 
     distribution of the most recent findings in the various 
     fields of natural sciences;
       Whereas in 1850 Joseph Henry, as Secretary of the 
     Smithsonian Institution, established the system of receiving 
     weather reports by telegraph and utilizing such reports to 
     predict weather conditions and issue storm warnings;
       Whereas in 1869 Congress established a national weather 
     bureau upon the recommendation of Joseph Henry;
       Whereas Joseph Henry was appointed as a member of the Light 
     House Board in 1852, and served as its president from 1871 
     until his death in 1878;
       Whereas Joseph Henry was an original member of the National 
     Academy of Sciences, its vice president in 1866, and its 
     president from 1868 until his death in 1878;
       Whereas Joseph Henry died in the District of Columbia on 
     May 13, 1878;
       Whereas Joseph Henry's prominence was such that a memorial 
     service was held in his honor on January 16, 1879, in the 
     Hall of the House of Representatives, and was attended by the 
     President, Vice President, members of the President's 
     Cabinet, Justices of the Supreme Court, Members of Congress, 
     and members of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian 
     Institution; and
       Whereas the memory of Joseph Henry was honored at the 
     opening of the Library of Congress in 1890 by including a 
     statue of Joseph Henry among the 16 bronze portrait statues 
     on display which represent human development and 
     civilization: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That Congress recognizes and honors Joseph Henry 
     for his significant and distinguished role in the development 
     and advancement of science and the use of electricity.

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