Michael Faraday

Michael Faraday (1791-1867), English natural philosopher, whose work crucially altered the practice and application of science. His experimental and theoretical researches on electromagnetism laid the foundations of much of modern physics as well as modern electrical engineering and communications, while his lecturing and work for the state helped ensure that science occupied a central position in 19th-century British society (see Electricity; Magnetism).

Faraday was born in Newington Butts, Surrey, on September 22, 1791. His father, a blacksmith who had recently moved to London from Westmorland (now part of Cumbria), belonged to a small literalist sect of Christianity called the Sandemanians. Faraday was deeply committed throughout his life to this sect. In 1821 he made his confession of faith and married a fellow Sandemanian; he was a deacon in the Church (1830-1840) and later an elder (1840-1844, 1860-1864). In many ways Faraday’s science can be viewed as his seeking after the laws of nature, which he believed that God had written into the universe at the Creation.

He attended a day school in London before being apprenticed as a bookbinder to George Riebau of Blandford Street between 1805 and 1812. During his apprenticeship Faraday developed an overriding interest in science that he put into practice by attending various scientific lectures, especially meetings of the City Philosophical Society in Fleet Street. An outcome of Faraday’s interest was his attending, in 1812, the last four lectures to be delivered by Sir Humphry Davy in the Royal Institution. He made detailed notes of the lectures and sent them to Davy asking for a job in science; early the following year he was appointed chemical assistant at the Royal Institution. From the autumn of 1813 to the spring of 1815 he visited, as Davy’s assistant, many chemical laboratories in continental Europe. Back at the Royal Institution, Faraday continued working on chemistry and helped Davy invent the miner’s safety lamp.

In 1821 Faraday was promoted to superintendent of the House of the Royal Institution, and in September, following the discovery by Hans Christian Oersted of electromagnetism, he discovered electromagnetic rotations, the principle behind the electric motor. In the 1820s Faraday liquefied gases and discovered what was later called, by Eilhard Mitscherlich, benzene. Although he was appointed director of the laboratory at the Royal Institution in 1825, he was not able to pursue his research further in the 1820s for two reasons. First, he spent much time working on a project to improve optical glass for the British Admiralty. Although this was not a success, it did lead to his appointment as scientific adviser to the Admiralty. Second, he became increasingly involved in running the Royal Institution by, for example, establishing in 1826 both the Friday evening discourses for members of the Royal Institution and the Christmas lectures for children. Both these series continue to this day and the Christmas lectures have been televised each year since 1966. Faraday delivered many lectures in both series (including his famous Christmas lectures, The Chemical History of a Candle) and became one of the most popular scientific lecturers of the day. From 1830 until 1851 he was professor of chemistry at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and in 1833 the Fullerian Professorship of Chemistry was established for him at the Royal Institution.

In 1831 he was able to return to his electrical researches and in that year discovered electromagnetic induction. In this work, Faraday effectively invented the first electric transformer and generator. This work commenced a remarkable decade for him in which, among other things, he rewrote the theory of electrochemistry (coining in the process words such as electrode, anode, cathode, ion, etc., and establishing his laws of electrolysis), and built, in 1836, the Faraday Cage, which showed that measurements of electric charge depended on the electrical state of the observer. This observation led Faraday to develop his theory that electricity was the result of induction between contiguous particles rather than a fluid as previously supposed. In the 1840s he extended his scepticism of scientific theories by arguing against both the existence of chemical atoms and of the luminiferous ether. These views were supported by his discovery of the magneto-optical effect and diamagnetism in 1845, and culminated in the 1850s with his establishment of the field theory of electromagnetism which, when mathematized by Lord Kelvin and James Clerk Maxwell, became and remains one of the cornerstones of physics.

As one of the leading members of the scientific community, Faraday was frequently invited to provide scientific advice to the state. In addition to his work for the Admiralty and the Royal Military Academy, he was, between 1836 and 1865, scientific adviser to Trinity House, and as such oversaw the programme to electrify lighthouses around the British Isles. He undertook enquiries into explosions at the Waltham Abbey gunpowder factory (for the Ordnance Office) and at Haswell Colliery (for the Home Office), as well as advising the National Gallery and other owners of works of art about conservation issues.

With his scientific research, his lecturing, and his advice to the state, it is little surprise that Faraday became, and indeed remains, one of the most famous men of his time. He was painted and sculpted many times, was one of the most photographed men in the early history of photography, and appeared on the £20 note from 1991 until 1999. In 1858 Prince Albert arranged for him to have a grace and favour house at Hampton Court Palace. Faraday spent an increasing amount of time in this house, and died there on August 25, 1867. He was buried in the Sandemanian plot in Highgate Cemetery, London.