2011 marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of John Tyndall's seminal 1861 paper, "On the absorption and radiation of heat by gases and vapours, and on the physical connexion of radiation, absorption and conduction." Tyndall (1820-1893) was one of the most eminent experimental physicists of his time. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1852. Born in Ireland, he worked mainly in England, becoming a professor of natural philosophy at the Royal Institution and succeeding Michael Faraday as its superintendent. Building on earlier theoretical and conceptual work by Fourier and others, Tyndall, in his pioneering laboratory research reported in the above paper, was the first to put the concept of the greenhouse effect on a firm empirical foundation. Using an instrument of his own design, he carefully measured the relative ability of water vapor, carbon dioxide, and other atmospheric gases to absorb infrared radiation. Tyndall immediately realized the potential implications of his discoveries for climate change. He concluded that water vapor and carbon dioxide were such powerful absorbers of infrared radiation that even slight changes in the amounts of these atmospheric gases “in fact may have produced all the mutations of climate which the researches of geologists reveal.” In addition to his original research in experimental physics, John Tyndall was a superb lecturer and author who spent a significant amount of his time communicating science to the general public. He wrote many popular books and articles and gave hundreds of public lectures. The income from these widely praised educational efforts made Tyndall a wealthy man, and he gave significant sums to support science. This paper traces the highlights of John Tyndall's scientific career with emphasis on his contributions to atmospheric and climate science through both research and outreach.