Nicholas Callan

Nicholas Callan (* 1799 in Darver, County Louth, † 1864 in Maynooth, County Kildare ) was an Irish inventor, Roman Catholic priest and physicist.

Life

Callan studied philosophy and Roman Catholic theology and was ordained a priest in 1823. He then studied at the University La Sapienza in Rome. During his time in Rome, he met pioneers of electrical engineering such as the Italian Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta know. In Ireland, he got a job as a high school teacher in Maynooth. The first spark coil was developed after preliminary work by Michael Faraday in 1836 by Callan at St Patrick 's College in Maynooth. The design did not correspond to the later standard cylindrical design, but was designed in the shape of a horseshoe. An improvement introduced a year later developed by William Sturgeon spark coil dar.

Works (selection)

• Electricity and galvanism ( introductory book ), 1832