Jonathan Nash Hearder

Jonathan Nash Hearder (24 December 1809 – 16 July 1876) was a British electrical engineer, inventor, and educator.

He is best known for his work in developing alternative experimental procedures for use by the blind and vision impaired, and for his early innovation in the field of induction coils.

He was the eldest of four children, with one brother (George Parry Hearder) and two sisters (Mary Hannah Treleaven and Anne Eliza Page).

[10] Hearder reportedly had an excellent memory, and held a passion for matters connected with local antiquity and history.

[1] On 16 July 1876, at the age of 67, Hearder died of a sudden paralytic seizure while at 13 Princess Square, Plymouth.

Hearder's son on one occasion vouched that he had personally conveyed his father to London to demonstrate a coil to Michael Faraday a full two years prior to the announcement of Ruhmkorff's design.

"[5] In September 1856, Hearder was awarded the first Silver Medal of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society for his exhibition of "an arrangement of primary and secondary wires, with which sparks were obtained in air, and discharges several inches long, through rarefied air, and with which Leyden jars were charged.

"[5] This induction coil represented a substantial improvement over Heinrich Ruhmkorff's more famous 1851 design, using one-third the wire and generating a significantly greater effect.