Life
1799-1864, b. Dundalk, Co. Louth; ed. under William Neilson, at the Dundalk
Academy, and Seminary; entered Maynooth 1816; ord. 1823; DD, Rome, 1826;
appt. Maynooth Prof. of Natural Philosophy; encouraged to investigate
magnetism by his predecessor, Cornelius Denvir (later Bishop of Down and
Connor); followed in footsteps of Galvani and Volta (whom he met in Rome);
invented the Induction Coil, thus providing a basis for cheap energy in
industry; constructed a giant battery of 577 piles at Maynooth, using
iron-zinc, later manufactured by E. M. Clarke of the Strand, London; made
an independent discovery of Ohm’s law; issued 20 religious tracts
and was influential in the conversion of of Henry Newman; published in
Sturgeon’s Annals of Electricity, and Philosophical Magazine;
his reputation secured in a paper by J. D. Gallivan to the Dublin British
Association meeting of 1957 (rep. in Nature); his 1837 induction
coil is preserved at Maynooth, where a prominent lecture theatre is dedicated
to him. DIB
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Criticism
Charles Mollan & John Upton, The Scientific Apparatus of Nicholas
Callan (1799-1864) and Other Historic Scientific Instruments
(Co. Kildare: Maynooth 1994).
Roy Johnston, ‘Godless Colleges and Non-Persons’, Causeway, 1, Autumn 1993, pp.36-38). William Reville, ‘Spark of Genius’
Column on Nicholas Joseph Callan, The Irish Times [Weekend], 21 Feb. 2002.
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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)