Joseph Henry (1797-1878) was a great American physicist and professor at Princeton University. He discovered the principle of self-induction (the standard unit for which is named after him) and invented the electromagnetic motor and the galvanometer. He was the first Secretary and Director of the Smithsonian Institution, one of the charter members of the National Academy of Sciences, and a founder and early president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was also a devout Christian, in all his experimentation making it a regular practice to stop, to worship God, and then to pray for divine guidance at every important juncture of the experiment.

Excerpted from Men of Science, Men of God by Henry M. Morris. Copyright 1982, 1988 by Henry M. Morris. Used by permission. RETURN TO LIST OF DECEASED INDUCTEES.