Tyndall, John (1820-1893)

A physicist at the Royal Institution, John Tyndall belonged to George Henry Lewes' and George Eliot's circle of distinguished friends. Tyndall may have inspired the candle parable in Middlemarch with his research on light and optical illusions. After Eliot's death, Tyndall wrote to the Dean of Westminster to support Eliot's proposed burial in Westminster Abbey, saying, “[Eliot] is a woman whose achievements were without parallel in the previous history of womankind” (Haight 549).

George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett, https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org