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Article: A self-made scientist. (Joseph Henry)(Cover Story)
- Article from:
- Weatherwise
- Article date:
- October 1, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Heldref Publications. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Joseph Henry, the most famous American physical scientist of his day, ever got the chance to go to college and never learned to spell correctly. Henry was born in Albany, New York, on December 17, 1797, the son of an alcoholic cartman who died when Joseph was 13. Even before his father's death, Henry had to live with relatives while his mother struggled to make ends meet and raise his siblings.
For a while Henry was apprenticed to a cousin in the silversmith trade, but found the theater more attractive. Indeed, his teenage performance of Hamlet and other leading roles in a local amateur troupe won him many admirers and a job offer in an Albany theater.
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