michael faraday biography in english

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Michael Faraday

Best known for his work on electricity and electrochemistry, Faraday proposed the laws of electrolysis. He also discovered benzene and other hydrocarbons.

As a young man in London, Michael Faraday attended science lectures by the great Sir Humphry Davy. He went on to work for Davy and became an influential scientist in his own right. Faraday was most famous for his contributions to the understanding of electricity and electrochemistry.

Apprenticeship with Humphry Davy

The son of a poor and very religious family, Faraday (1791–1867) received little formal education. He was apprenticed to a bookbindery in London, however, and read many of the books brought there for binding, including the “electricity” section of the Encyclopedia Britannica and Jane Marcet ’s Conversations on Chemistry . He was also among the young Londoners who pursued an interest in science by gathering to hear talks at the City Philosophical Society.

One of the bookbinder’s customers gave Faraday free tickets to lectures given by Sir Humphry Davy at the Royal Institution, and after attending, Faraday conceived the goal of working for the great scientist. On the basis of Faraday’s carefully taken notes of Davy’s lectures, he was hired by Davy in 1813. His first assignment was to accompany Sir Humphry and his wife on a tour of the Continent, during which he sometimes had to be a personal servant to Lady Davy.

Discovery of Benzene and Other Experiments

Once back in England, Faraday developed as an analytical and practical chemist. As his chemical capabilities increased, he was given more responsibility. In 1825 he replaced the seriously ailing Davy in his duties directing the laboratory at the Royal Institution.

In 1833 he was appointed to the Fullerian Professorship of Chemistry—a special research chair created for him. Among other achievements Faraday liquefied various gases, including chlorine and carbon dioxide. His investigation of heating and illuminating oils led to his discovery of benzene and other hydrocarbons, and he experimented at length with various steel alloys and optical glasses (for more on benzene, see August Kekulé and Archibald Scott Couper ).

Faraday’s Two Laws of Electrolysis

Faraday is most famous for his contributions to the understanding of electricity and electrochemistry. In this work he was driven by his belief in the uniformity of nature and the interconvertibility of various forces, which he conceived early on as fields of force. In 1821 he succeeded in producing mechanical motion by means of a permanent magnet and an electric current—an ancestor of the electric motor. Ten years later he converted magnetic force into electrical force, thus inventing the world’s first electrical generator.

In the course of proving that electricities produced by various means are identical, Faraday discovered the two laws of electrolysis: the amount of chemical change or decomposition is exactly proportional to the quantity of electricity that passes in solution, and the amounts of different substances deposited or dissolved by the same quantity of electricity are proportional to their chemical equivalent weights. In 1833 he and the classicist William Whewell worked out a new nomenclature for electrochemical phenomena based on Greek words, which is more or less still in use today— ion , electrode , and so on.

Light and Magnetism

Faraday suffered a nervous breakdown in 1839 but eventually returned to his electromagnetic investigations, this time on the relationship between light and magnetism. Although Faraday was unable to express his theories in mathematical terms, his ideas formed the basis for the electromagnetic equations that James Clerk Maxwell developed in the 1850s and 1860s.

In contrast to Davy, Faraday was known throughout his life as a kind and humble person, unconcerned with honors and eager to practice his science to the best of his ability.

Featured image: Michael Faraday. Engraved by D. J. Pound from a photograph by Mayall. Science History Institute

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A Biography of Michael Faraday, Inventor of the Electric Motor

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Michael Faraday (born Sept. 22, 1791) was a British physicist and chemist who is best known for his discoveries of electromagnetic induction and of the laws of electrolysis. His biggest breakthrough in electricity was his invention of the electric motor .

Born in 1791 to a poor family in the Newington, Surrey village of South London, Faraday had a difficult childhood riddled with poverty.

Faraday's mother stayed at home to take care of Michael and his three siblings, and his father was a blacksmith who was often too ill to work steadily, which meant that the children frequently went without food. Despite this, Faraday grew up a curious child, questioning everything and always feeling an urgent need to know more. He learned to read at Sunday school for the Christian sect the family belonged to called the Sandemanians, which greatly influenced the way he approached and interpreted nature.

At the age of 13, he became an errand boy for a bookbinding shop in London, where he would read every book that he bound and decided that one day he would write his own. At this bookbinding shop, Faraday became interested in the concept of energy, specifically force, through an article he read in the third edition of Encyclopædia Britannica. Because of his early reading and experiments with the idea of force, he was able to make important discoveries in electricity later in life and eventually became a chemist and physicist.

However, it wasn't until Faraday attended chemical lectures by Sir Humphry Davy at the Royal Institution of Great Britain in London that he was able to finally pursue his studies in chemistry and science. After attending the lectures, Faraday bound the notes he had taken and sent them to Davy to apply for an apprenticeship under him, and a few months later, he began as Davy's lab assistant.

Apprenticeships and Early Studies in Electricity

Davy was one of the leading chemists of the day when Faraday joined him in 1812, having discovered sodium and potassium and studying the decomposition of muriatic (hydrochloric) acid that yielded the discovery of chlorine. Following the atomic theory of Ruggero Giuseppe Boscovich, Davy and Faraday began to interpret the molecular structure of such chemicals, which would greatly influence Faraday's ideas about electricity.

When Faraday's second apprenticeship under Davy ended in late 1820, Faraday knew about as much chemistry as anyone else at the time, and he used this newfound knowledge to continue experiments in the fields of electricity and chemistry. In 1821, he married Sarah Barnard and took up permanent residence at the Royal Institution, where he would conduct research on electricity and magnetism.

Faraday built two devices to produce what he called electromagnetic rotation , a continuous circular motion from the circular magnetic force around a wire. Unlike his contemporaries at the time, Faraday interpreted electricity as more of a vibration than the flow of water through pipes and began to experiment based off of this concept.

One of his first experiments after discovering electromagnetic rotation was attempting to pass a ray of polarized light through an electrochemically decomposing solution to detect the intermolecular strains the current would produce. However, throughout the 1820s, repeated experiments yielded no results. It would be another 10 years before Faraday made a huge breakthrough in chemistry.

Discovering Electromagnetic Induction

In the next decade, Faraday began his great series of experiments in which he discovered electromagnetic induction. These experiments would form the basis of the modern electromagnetic technology that's still used today.

In 1831, using his "induction ring"—the first electronic transformer—Faraday made one of his greatest discoveries: electromagnetic induction, the "induction" or generation of electricity in a wire by means of the electromagnetic effect of a current in another wire.

In the second series of experiments in September 1831 he discovered magneto-electric induction: the production of a steady electric current. To do this, Faraday attached two wires through a sliding contact to a copper disc. By rotating the disc between the poles of a horseshoe magnet, he obtained a continuous direct current, creating the first generator. From his experiments came devices that led to the modern electric motor, generator, and transformer.

Continued Experiments, Death, and Legacy

Faraday continued his  electrical  experiments throughout much of his later life. In 1832, he proved that the electricity induced from a magnet, voltaic electricity produced by a battery, and static electricity were all the same. He also did significant work in electrochemistry, stating the First and Second Laws of Electrolysis, which laid the foundation for that field and another modern industry.

Faraday passed away in his home in Hampton Court on August 25, 1867, at the age of 75. He was buried at Highgate Cemetery in North London. A memorial plaque was set up in his honor at Westminster Abbey Church, near Isaac Newton's burial spot. 

Faraday's influence extended to a great many leading scientists. Albert Einstein was known to have had a portrait of Faraday on his wall in his study, where it hung alongside pictures of legendary physicists Sir Isaac Newton and James Clerk Maxwell.

Among those who praised his achievements were Earnest Rutherford, the father of nuclear physics. Of Faraday he once stated,

"When we consider the magnitude and extent of his discoveries and their influence on the progress of science and of industry, there is no honour too great to pay to the memory of Faraday, one of the greatest scientific discoverers of all time."

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Who was Michael Faraday?

The Faraday Institute is named after Michael Faraday because he combined a deep religious faith with an outstanding scientific career, making him one of the best known of all British scientists, or natural philosophers as they were known in his era. At the same time Faraday was a very effective communicator of the latest findings in science in the public domain, an exemplar of how to cross inter-disciplinary boundaries.

Early career

Michael Faraday (1791-1867) discovered many of the fundamental laws of physics and chemistry, despite the fact that he had virtually no formal education. The son of an English blacksmith, he was apprenticed at the age of 14 to a bookseller and bookbinder. He read every book on science in the bookshop and attended lectures given at the Royal Institution by various natural philosophers, including Sir Humphry Davy, the discoverer of several chemical elements. In 1812, he applied to Davy for a job, citing his interest in science and showing Davy the extensive lecture notes he had taken. Davy hired Faraday to assist with his research and lecture demonstrations.

Magnetism and chemistry

Within a few years, Faraday began to do original research on his own, submitting two papers on chemistry to the Royal Society in 1820. In that same year, Oersted discovered that a current in a wire deflects a compass needle. Faraday repeated Oersted’s experiments and found that a magnet also exerts a force on a wire carrying an electric current. Soon afterward, he also showed how to liquefy chlorine, and he isolated benzene, a fundamental component of organic chemistry.

Faraday’s important discoveries brought him considerable fame, much to the discomfort of Davy, who felt he should have shared the credit for some of the advances. Davy preferred to regard Faraday as a technical assistant and even forced him to serve as a valet on an extended tour of European research centres. Despite Davy’s objections, Faraday was elected to the Royal Society in 1824 and was made director of the laboratory at the Royal Institution in 1825.

Electricity

After Faraday discovered, in 1831, that a changing magnetic field can induce a current, he performed a series of experiments that showed clearly that the induced EMF is equal to the rate of change of magnetic flux. Also, generalizing from the patterns formed by iron filings around magnets, he invented the concepts of magnetic and electric field lines. Faraday knew little mathematics and found this concrete approach to electricity and magnetism much more useful than equations giving the forces between charges or currents. He also suggested that the propagation of light through space consisted of vibrations of these lines. His concepts of electric and magnetic fields were put into mathematical form a generation later by Maxwell, who showed that light is, in fact, an oscillatory electromagnetic disturbance.

Faraday made many other notable contributions. He devised the first electrical generator, which consisted of a copper disk rotating between the poles of a magnet. He discovered the correct laws of electrochemistry after proving that earlier theories disagreed with experiments. He studied optical phenomena and found that when light passes through a medium, a magnetic field will rotate the direction of the oscillating electric field. Ignoring scorn from his contemporaries, he attempted unsuccessfully in laboratory experiments to find a link between gravitation and electromagnetism. Such a link was observed 70 years later in a test of Einstein’s general theory of relativity, when light rays passing near the sun were found to be deflected.

During the years 1831-1855 Faraday read before the Royal Society a series of 30 papers that were published in his three-volume ‘Experimental Researches in Electricity’. His bibliography lists nearly 500 printed papers, of which only three were jointly written papers. Today we might call Faraday a physicist, but the term did not come into usage until the late 1860’s, and the description ‘chemist, electrician and natural philosopher’ more clearly describes the immense range of Faraday’s investigations. By 1844 he had been elected to about 70 scientific societies, but Faraday declined nomination as President of the Royal Society. As Cantor remarks ‘…as a Christian Faraday felt that no God-given moment should be wasted. His time had to be strictly controlled. He pursued both his science and his religion with total dedication’.

Work, finish, publish

Faraday’s advice to a younger scientist to ‘Work, finish, publish’, is an aphorism that would serve as a useful reminder on the wall of any modern laboratory. Yet Faraday still found time to take a keen appreciation in the arts, read novels vociferously and spent many hours a week visiting the poor and sick in the context of his job as an elder of his local church in London. In fact he was an enthusiastic collector of engravings, lithographs, and photographs, particularly portraits. He developed lasting friendships with many of the leading artists of London and served as an advisor to the British Museum, National Gallery, and Westminster Abbey on the preservation of sculpture and architecture.

One of Faraday’s jobs in the Royal Institution was to give regular public lectures that would bring the public up-to-date on the latest scientific discoveries. There was an immense public interest in science in early Victorian England. Nervous at the start of his new responsibility, Faraday soon became a confident and gifted lecturer, incorporating experiments into his lectures and quickly establishing a rapport with his largely non-specialist audiences. His obvious enthusiasm for his subject was infectious. ‘All is a sparking stream of eloquence and experimental illustration’ enthused William Crookes after one of Faraday’s lectures. Faraday rarely alluded to religion as such during his public lectures, but the religious message was implicit in the sense of wonder that he set out to evoke in the remarkable properties of God’s world. In a private lecture given before Prince Albert in 1849 Faraday expounded the wonders of magnetism and the influence that it appeared to exert on every particle in the universe: ‘What its great purpose is, seems to be looming in the distance before us….and I cannot doubt that a glorious discovery in natural knowledge, and of the wisdom and power of God in the creation, is awaiting our age’.

Christian convictions

Faraday belonged to a small nonconformist denomination and his Christian convictions shaped his attitude towards his science as much as to other aspects of his life. Faraday firmly believed in God as creator, but was critical of the natural theology that dominated much early Victorian science, and neither did he look to the Bible as a source of scientific information. Like Bacon, Faraday was convinced that the book of God’s world and the book of God’s word had the same author, so that ‘the natural works of God can never by any possibility come into contradiction with the higher things that belong to our future existence…’ The source of knowledge about salvation was derived from the Biblical revelation of God’s working in history through the people of Israel in the Old Covenant, and then by God sending his Son to die on the cross and rise from the dead in order to secure the New Covenant. Such knowledge could not be derived by investigations of the natural world, which were sufficient only to indicate God’s existence and power.

Faraday had a deep sense of the order of God’s creation. The laws of nature ‘were established from the beginning’ and so were ‘as old as creation’. The notes of one of his earliest lectures contain the pithy exhortation ‘Search for laws’. The task of science was to discover those laws by a process of empirical investigation. As Faraday argued in a memorandum (1844) on the nature of matter: ‘God has been pleased to work in his material creation by laws’ and ‘the Creator governs his material works by definite laws resulting from the forces impressed on matter’. The ‘beauty of electricity….[is] that it is under law’. ‘The laws of nature, as we understand them, are the foundations of our knowledge of natural things’, he told the audience at one of his lectures.

The ‘holy grail’ of the relationship between the various powers of creation was a topic to which Faraday frequently referred, though it was a topic still so speculative that Faraday confided many of his most ambitious thoughts only to his diary. On March 19, 1849, his diary records: ‘Gravity. Surely this force must be capable of an experimental relation to Electricity, Magnetism and the other forces, so as to bind it up with them in reciprocal action and equivalent effect. Consider for a moment how to set about touching this matter by facts and trial’. Many experiments followed, but Faraday was unable to detect any influence of falling objects on electric fields, reporting these negative results to the Royal Society in November, 1850. Nevertheless, concluded Faraday, although the results were negative, they ‘do not shake my strong feeling of the existence of a relation between gravity and electricity, though they give no proof that such a relation exists’. God’s world was coherent, ruled by law. In such a world relationships between forces had to exist.

Faraday’s legacy

Faraday was a brilliant iconoclast. Einstein remarked of Faraday that he, of all people, ‘had made the greatest change in our conception of reality’. Yet despite his achievements, Faraday remained a modest and humble person. He declined to be knighted or to receive honorary degrees and only reluctantly accepted a small pension on his retirement in 1858.

“Indeed, all I can say to you at the end of these lectures (for we must come to an end at one time or other) is to express a wish that you may, in your generation, be fit to compare to a candle; that, in all your actions, you may justify the beauty of the taper by making your deeds honourable and effectual in the discharge of your duty to your fellow-men”.

[Michael Faraday, closing his most famous Christmas series, ‘The Chemical History of a Candle’]

D.R. Alexander, ‘Rebuilding the Matrix – Science and Faith in the 21st Century’, Oxford: Lion, 2001, pp. 159-164.

G.Cantor, ‘Michael Faraday: Sandemanian and Scientist’, Macmillan, 1991,

C.A.Russell ‘Michael Faraday: Physics and Faith’, New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

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Michael Faraday (1791-1867)

The discoveries of Michael Faraday, made in the basement of the Ri, shaped the modern world.

Ri positions

• Laboratory Assistant, 1813,1815-1826
• Director of the Laboratory, 1825-1867
• Fullerian Professor of Chemistry, 1833-1867
• Superintendent of the House, 1852-1867 (Acting 1821–1826) (Assistant 1826–1852)

Michael Faraday was born in Newington Butts, Southwark, the son of a Sandemanian blacksmith who had moved from the North West of England.

He served an apprenticeship with George Riebau as a bookbinder from 1805 to 1812. He was Assistant in the Royal Institution’s laboratory for part of 1813 and again from 1815 to 1826 (touring the Continent with Humphry Davy (qv) in the interim). He was appointed Assistant Superintendent of the House of the Royal Institution in 1821, Director of the Laboratory in 1825 and six years later the Fullerian Professorship of Chemistry was created for him. In the mid 1820s he founded both the Friday Evening Discourses and the  CHRISTMAS LECTURES  and delivered many lectures in both series himself. He was appointed Scientific Adviser to the Admiralty in 1829, was Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich between 1830 and 1851 and Scientific Adviser to Trinity House from 1836 to 1865.

His major discoveries include electro–magnetic rotations (1821), benzene (1825), electro-magnetic induction (1831), the laws of electrolysis and coining words such as electrode, cathode, ion (early 1830s) the magneto-optical effect and diamagnetism (both 1845) and thereafter formulating the field theory of electro-magnetism.

He was twice offered the Presidency of the Royal Society, but declined on both occasions. He publicly stated several times that he would not accept a knighthood, but no evidence has been found that he was ever offered one. He was, however, awarded a Civil List Pension in 1836 and in 1858 the Queen provided him with a Grace and Favour House at Hampton Court where he died.

Source: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Faraday's papers

The papers include laboratory notebooks, lecture notes and various publications, some administrative papers on the Royal Institution of Great Britain including cash books, correspondence regarding his work for the Admiralty and the Corporation of Trinity House whilst, general communication with people and other organisations. Other items include his book collection, scrapbooks, portfolio of portraits and apparatus.

Catalogue information is currently available on the  National Archive's Discovery  service and a summary of the collection can be found on the  AIM25 website .

Other resources

A complete edition of Faraday's approximately 4900 extant letters is being published under the editorship of Frank James at the Royal Institution.

Find out more about the Correspondence of Michael Faraday

Book an appointment to view the archives

Publications

Faraday published only one book, Chemical Manipulation, Being Instructions to Students in Chemistry (1827). His other publications are collections of papers or lecture notes; his famous Chemical History of a Candle (1861) was edited and published by his friend William Crookes.

The other titles are collections of papers and lecture notes, some published after his death:

• Chemical Manipulation, Being Instructions to Students in Chemistry (1827)
• Experimental Researches in Electricity, Vol  I, II & III (1837, 1844, 1855)
• Experimental Researches in Chemistry and Physics (1859)
• W. Crookes. ed. A Course of six lectures on the Various Forces of Matter (1860)
• W. Crookes. ed. A Course of six lectures on the Chemical History of a Candle (1861)
• W. Crookes. ed. On the Various Forces in Nature. (1873)
• The liquefaction of gases (1896)

Manuscripts which have been published

• Brian Bowers and Lenore Symons, ‘Curiosity Perfectly Satisfyed’: Faraday’s travels in Europe 1813‐1815, (London, 1991). Based on his papers held at the Institution of Engineering and Technology.
• Frank A.J.L. James, The Correspondence of Michael Faraday, (London, 1991‐2008). The complete correspondence of Michael Faraday consists of six volumes.
• Frank A.J.L. James, Guide to the Microfilm edition of the Manuscripts of Michael Faraday (1791‐1867) from the Collections of the Royal Institution, The Institution of Electrical Engineers, The Guildhall Library [and] The Royal Society, (2nd ed., Wakefield, 2001). The vast majority of Faraday’s manuscripts, apart from letters, published on microfilm and cd.
• Thomas Martin, Faraday’s Diary, 7 volumes and index, (London, 1932–36).  A typescript edition of Faraday’s experimental notebooks with diagrams.  

Explore Michael Faraday's life and work

History of science

A tour of michael faraday in london.

A walk from the Royal Institution to Somerset House exploring Faraday's life, his intellectual network and his legacy.

Michael Faraday's correspondence

A brief history of Michael Faraday's correspondence, from 1811–1867.

Michael Faraday's magneto-optical apparatus

The electromagnet used by Michael Faraday in a ground-breaking experiment showing that light and glass are affected by magnetism

Sarah Faraday (1800–1879)

Sarah Faraday was the wife of eminent Ri scientist Michael Faraday.

Michael Faraday's Magnetic Laboratory

The actual laboratory where Michael Faraday made his fundamental discoveries of the magneto-optical effect and of diamagnetism

Michael Faraday's iron filings

Faraday created a number of iron filing diagrams in 1851 to demonstrate magnetic lines of force.

 MacTutor

Michael faraday.

After the regular hours of business, he was chiefly employed in drawing and copying from the Artist's Repository, a work published in numbers which he took in weekly. ... Dr Watts's Improvements of the mind was then read and frequently took in his pocket, when he went an early walk in the morning, visiting some other works of art or searching for some mineral or vegetable curiosity. ... His mind ever engaged, besides attending to bookbinding which he executed in a proper manner.

Whilst an apprentice, I loved to read the scientific books which were under my hands ...

Science [ is ] a harsh mistress, and in a pecuniary point of view but poorly rewarding those who devote themselves to her service.

These eighteen months abroad had taken the place, in Faraday's life, of the years spent at university by other men. He gained a working knowledge of French and Italian; he had added considerably to his scientific attainments, and had met and talked with many of the leading foreign men of science; but, above all, the tour had been what was most valuable to him at that time, a broadening influence.

It records the first conversion of electrical into mechanical energy. It also contained the first notion of the line of force.

... was in a position to put all the pieces together into a coherent theory of electricity.

That which is magnetic in the forces of matter has been affected, and in turn has affected that which is truly magnetic in the force of light.

[ Faraday's ] magnetic laboratory, where many of his most important discoveries were made, was restored in 1972 to the form it was known to have had in 1854 . A museum, adjacent to the laboratory, houses a unique collection of original apparatus arranged to illustrate the most important aspects of Faraday's immense contribution to the advancement of science in his fifty years at the Royal Institution.

He was by any sense and by any standard a good man; and yet his goodness was not of the kind that make others uncomfortable in his presence. His strong personal sense of duty did not take the gaiety out of his life. ... his virtues were those of action, not of mere abstention ...

References ( show )

• L P Williams, Biography in Dictionary of Scientific Biography ( New York 1970 - 1990) . See THIS LINK .
• Biography in Encyclopaedia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/biography/Michael-Faraday
• Obituary in The Times See THIS LINK
• T Martin, Faraday ( London, 1934) .
• L Pearce Williams, Michael Faraday : A biography ( London-New York, 1965) .

Additional Resources ( show )

Other pages about Michael Faraday:

• Times obituary
• An entry in The Mathematical Gazetteer of the British Isles
• Miller's postage stamps

Other websites about Michael Faraday:

• Dictionary of Scientific Biography
• Dictionary of National Biography
• IEEE ( Exhibition on Maxwell and Faraday )
• I Hutchison
• zbMATH entry

Honours ( show )

Honours awarded to Michael Faraday

• Popular biographies list Number 97
• Fellow of the Royal Society 1824
• Royal Society Royal Medal 1835
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1835
• Copley Medal 1838
• Lunar features Crater Faraday

Cross-references ( show )

• History Topics: Light through the ages: Ancient Greece to Maxwell
• History Topics: Light through the ages: Relativity and quantum era
• Societies: Netherlands Academy of Sciences
• Student Projects: James Clerk Maxwell - The Great Unknown: Chapter 7
• Other: 13th November
• Other: 1950 ICM - Cambridge USA
• Other: 2009 Most popular biographies
• Other: 29th August
• Other: Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
• Other: Jeff Miller's postage stamps
• Other: London Learned Societies
• Other: London Miscellaneous
• Other: London individuals A-C
• Other: London individuals D-G
• Other: London individuals H-M
• Other: Most popular biographies – 2024
• Other: Other Institutions in central London
• Other: Popular biographies 2018

Culture History

Michael Faraday

Michael Faraday (1791–1867) was a English scientist and physicist who made significant contributions to the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. His work laid the foundation for modern technological advancements, particularly in the development of electric generators and transformers. Faraday’s famous experiments and discoveries include the laws of electromagnetic induction and electrolysis, shaping the understanding of electricity and magnetism. He also established the concept of electric and magnetic fields. Faraday’s profound influence extended to education, as he was a gifted lecturer and mentor, leaving an enduring legacy in the scientific community.

Faraday’s early life was marked by financial struggles. His father, James Faraday, was a blacksmith, and the family’s limited means meant that Michael’s formal education was cut short. At the age of 13, Faraday started working as an apprentice to a local bookbinder, George Riebau. During his time at the bookshop, Faraday voraciously read scientific books and developed a keen interest in the natural sciences.

In 1812, Faraday attended a series of lectures by the renowned chemist Sir Humphry Davy at the Royal Institution in London. Inspired by Davy’s demonstrations and lectures, Faraday sent him a bound set of notes he had taken during the lectures, along with a request for employment. Recognizing Faraday’s enthusiasm and potential, Davy appointed him as a chemical assistant at the Royal Institution in 1813.

Faraday’s work at the Royal Institution marked the beginning of his illustrious scientific career. His first major breakthrough came in 1821 when he discovered electromagnetic rotation— the principle behind the electric motor. This groundbreaking experiment demonstrated that a wire carrying an electric current could be made to rotate around a magnet, laying the foundation for the development of electric motors.

Building on this success, Faraday went on to formulate the laws of electromagnetic induction in 1831. These laws describe how a changing magnetic field induces an electromotive force in a nearby conductor, leading to the development of electric generators. Faraday’s work in electromagnetic induction not only had practical applications in electricity generation but also laid the groundwork for future advancements in the understanding of the relationship between electricity and magnetism.

In addition to his work on electromagnetism, Faraday made significant contributions to the field of electrochemistry. In 1833, he introduced the concept of an “ion” to explain the behavior of substances during electrolysis. Faraday’s work on electrolysis, including the laws of electrolysis he formulated, provided crucial insights into the nature of chemical reactions and the interplay between electricity and chemistry.

Faraday’s dedication to scientific exploration extended beyond the laboratory. He was an exceptional lecturer and public communicator of science. His Christmas Lectures at the Royal Institution became legendary, captivating audiences of all ages with his engaging demonstrations and explanations of scientific principles. Faraday’s ability to communicate complex ideas in a clear and accessible manner contributed to his widespread popularity and influence.

Despite his numerous achievements, Faraday faced challenges. He had little formal education, which occasionally led to skepticism and resistance from some members of the scientific establishment. However, his experimental prowess and intuitive understanding of natural phenomena overcame these obstacles, earning him respect and admiration from contemporaries and future generations alike.

In 1832, Faraday was appointed as the Director of the Royal Institution’s Laboratory. This position provided him with the resources and support to conduct further groundbreaking experiments. His work on the liquefaction of gases, which began in the 1820s, culminated in the successful liquefaction of several gases, including chlorine, ammonia, and carbon dioxide.

Faraday’s health began to decline in the late 1840s, and he officially retired from active research in 1858. Despite his diminished physical capacity, he continued to contribute to the scientific community through his writings and correspondence. Faraday’s legacy, however, continued to grow as the scientific community recognized the profound impact of his work.

In 1860, Queen Victoria bestowed the honor of knighthood upon Faraday, recognizing his exceptional contributions to science. However, Faraday declined other honors, including a burial in Westminster Abbey, on the grounds that such recognitions contradicted his principles.

Michael Faraday passed away on August 25, 1867, at the age of 75. His legacy lives on not only in the laws and principles that bear his name but also in the spirit of scientific inquiry and communication that he exemplified. Faraday’s influence extended far beyond his lifetime, shaping the trajectory of physics and chemistry and inspiring generations of scientists.

Faraday’s impact on the field of electromagnetism paved the way for technological advancements in electric power, communications, and more. The unit of capacitance in the International System of Units (SI), the farad, was named in his honor. Faraday’s profound understanding of the relationship between electricity and magnetism laid the groundwork for the development of numerous technologies that continue to shape our modern world.

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• Michael Faraday Biography

Who is Michael Faraday?

Michael Faraday was an English scientist who made important contributions to the fields of electrochemistry and electromagnetism. The concepts underlying electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism, and electrolysis were among his most important discoveries.

Despite his lack of formal education, Faraday was one of the most prominent scientists in history. Faraday provided the foundation for the idea of the electromagnetic field in physics through his experiments on the magnetic field around a conductor holding a direct current. Faraday also discovered that magnetism could influence light rays and that the two phenomena had an underlying relationship.

He also discovered the rules of electrolysis and the concepts of electromagnetic induction and diamagnetism. His electromagnetic rotary system designs laid the groundwork for electric motor technology, and it was because of his efforts that electricity became useful in technology. Faraday was an excellent experimenter who communicated his ideas in simple language; however, his mathematical skills were limited to the simplest algebra.

Michael Faraday’s Information

Faraday’s date of birth: September 22, 1791

Faraday’s place of birth: Newington Butts, England

Faraday’s date of death: August 25, 1867

Faraday’s Place of death: Hampton Court, London, England

Spouse:  Sarah Barnard ​(m. 1821)

Michael Faraday’s Inventions : 

Faraday’s Law of Induction; 

Faraday Effect; 

Faraday Cage;

Faraday Constant; 

Faraday’s laws of electrolysis etc.

About Michael Faraday

History of michael faraday.

Michael Faraday was born on September 22, 1791, in Newington Butts, a Surrey suburb that is now part of the London Borough of Southwark. His family did not have a lot of income. James, his father, belonged to the Glassite Christian sect. During the winter of 1790, James Faraday moved his wife and two children from Outhgill, Westmorland, to London, where he had worked as an apprentice to the village blacksmith. In the autumn of that year, Michael was born. Michael Faraday, the third of four brothers, had to educate himself after receiving only a basic school education.

He began working as an apprentice to George Riebau, a local bookbinder and bookseller on Blandford Street when he was 14 years old. Faraday read a lot of books during his seven-year apprenticeship, including Isaac Watts' The Improvement of the Mind, of which he vigorously applied the given principles and recommendations. He also became interested in science, especially electricity. Jane Marcet's book Conversations on Chemistry was especially inspiring to Faraday.

Faraday attended lectures by eminent English chemist Humphry Davy of the Royal Institution and the Royal Society, and John Tatum, member of the City Philosophical Society, in 1812, when he was 20 years old and approaching the end of his apprenticeship. 

William Dance, one of the Royal Philharmonic Society's members, gave Faraday a large number of tickets to these lectures. Faraday then sent Davy a 300-page book based on the notes he made during these lectures. When Davy's eyesight was destroyed in an accident with nitrogen trichloride in 1813, he decided to hire Faraday as an assistant.

On the same day that one of the Royal Institution's assistants, John Payne, was shot, Sir Humphry Davy was asked to find a replacement; as a result, on March 1, 1813, he appointed Faraday as Chemical Assistant at the Royal Institution. Davy soon entrusted Faraday with the preparation of nitrogen trichloride samples, and they were both hospitalised when this highly sensitive material exploded.

Faraday was awarded an honorary Doctor of Civil Law degree by the University of Oxford in June 1832. During his lifetime, he was given a knighthood in recognition of his contributions to science, which he declined on religious grounds, claiming that accumulating wealth and seeking worldly reward was against the word of God, and preferring to remain "plain Mr Faraday to the end." He was elected a member of the Royal Society in 1824, but he declined to be President on two occasions. In 1833, he was appointed as the first Fullerian Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution.

Faraday was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as a Foreign Honorary Member in 1832. In 1838, he was elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences as a foreign member, and in 1844, he was one of eight foreign members elected to the French Academy of Sciences. He was elected as an associate member of the Royal Institute of the Netherlands in 1849, which became the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences two years later, and he was later promoted to foreign member.

Faraday had a nervous breakdown in 1839, but he recovered and resumed his electromagnetism research. Faraday was granted a grace and favour house in Hampton Court, Middlesex, in 1848, as a result of the Prince Consort's representations. The house was free of all expenses and maintenance. This was the Master Mason's Home, which later became known as Faraday House and is now known as No. 37 Hampton Court Road. Faraday moved there in 1858 to retire.

Faraday declined to engage in the manufacture of chemical weapons for use in the Crimean War (1853–1856) after providing a variety of different service projects for the British government. He cited ethical grounds for his refusal.

Michael Faraday Information: Marriage and Family

On June 12, 1821, Faraday married Sarah Barnard (1800–1879). They met at the Sandemanian church through their friends, and he confessed his faith to the Sandemanian congregation a month after they married. They didn't have any children.

Faraday was a devout Christian who belonged to the Sandemanian sect of the Church of Scotland. He served as a deacon and an elder in the meeting house where he grew up for two terms after his marriage. Paul's Alley in the Barbican was the location of his church.

This meeting house moved to Barnsbury Grove, Islington, in 1862, and it was here that Faraday spent the final two years of his second term as an elder before resigning.

Michael Faraday Inventions

Michael Faraday, known for his discovery of electromagnetic induction and laws of electrolysis, has a number of scientific achievements under his belt. Below are a few inventions/discoveries by him-

1. Faraday’s Law of Induction: 

Faraday's law of induction (also known as Faraday's law) is a fundamental law of electromagnetism that describes how a magnetic field interacts with an electric circuit to create an electromotive force (EMF), a phenomenon known as electromagnetic induction. Transformers, inductors, and several types of electrical motors, generators, and solenoids all work on this principle.

Faraday's law was discovered, and one of its aspects (transformer EMF) was later developed as the Maxwell–Faraday equation. 

The Maxwell–Faraday equation states that a spatially varying (and possibly also time-varying, depending on how a magnetic field varies in time) electric field always accompanies a time-varying magnetic field, while Faraday's law states that there is EMF (electromotive force, described as electromagnetic work done on a unit charge when it has travelled a certain distance).

The Maxwell–Faraday equation (which describes transformer EMF) and the Lorentz force can be used to derive Faraday's law (describing motional EMF).

2. Faraday Effect: 

The magneto-optic Faraday effect (MOFE), also known as the Faraday effect or Faraday rotation, is a physical magneto-optical phenomenon. The Faraday effect induces polarisation rotation that is proportional to the magnetic field projection along the light propagation direction. Formally, when the dielectric permittivity tensor is diagonal, it is a special case of gyro electromagnetism.

The Faraday effect, discovered by Michael Faraday in 1845, was the first experimental proof that light and electromagnetism are related. In the 1860s and 1870s, James Clerk Maxwell and Oliver Heaviside completed the theoretical foundation of electromagnetic radiation (which includes visible light). Under the influence of magnetic fields, this phenomenon occurs in most optically transparent dielectric materials (including liquids).

Circular birefringence, a property that causes the Faraday effect, is caused by left and right circularly polarised waves propagating at slightly different speeds. Since a linear polarisation can be decomposed into the superposition of two equal-amplitude circularly polarised components of opposite handedness and phase, a relative phase shift caused by the Faraday effect rotates the linear polarisation of a wave.

3. Faraday Cage: 

A Faraday cage, also known as a Faraday shield, is an electromagnetic field-blocking enclosure. A Faraday shield may be made out of a continuous layer of conductive material, or a mesh of such materials in the case of a Faraday cage. 

4. Faraday Constant: 

Michael Faraday is the name of the Faraday constant, which is denoted by the symbol F and sometimes stylized as F. This constant represents the magnitude of electric charge per mole of electrons in chemistry and physics.   

F = 96485.33212... Cmol 

5. Faraday’s Laws of Electrolysis: 

Faraday's laws of electrolysis are quantitative relationships derived from Michael Faraday's electrochemical study published in 1833.

The mass (m) of elements deposited at an electrode is directly proportional to the charge (Q in ampere seconds or coulombs), according to Michael Faraday.

⇒ \[\frac{m}{Q}\] = Z

The electrochemical equivalent (e.c.e) of the substance is the constant of proportionality Z. As a result, the mass of the substance deposited/liberated per unit charge can be defined as the e.c.e.

Faraday discovered that the mass of the substance liberated/deposited at the electrodes in g is directly proportional to their chemical equivalent/equivalent weight(E) when the same amount of electric current is passed through different electrolytes/elements connected in series. This is calculated by dividing the molar mass (M) by the valence (v)

E = \[\frac{\text{Molar mass}}{\text{Valance}}\]

⇒ m₁ : m₂ : m₃ :........= E₁ : E₂ : E₃ : ……

⇒Z₁Q : Z₂Q : Z₃Q : ……... = E₁ : E₂ : E₃ :......(From 1st law) 

⇒Z₁ : Z₂ : Z₃ : ……... = E₁ : E₂ : E₃ :....

Michael Faraday Scientist

Let us elaborate on Michael Faraday Discovery as a Chemist and Physicist.

Faraday began his chemistry career as a chemist's assistant to Humphry Davy. Faraday was particularly interested in the study of chlorine, and he found two new chlorine-carbon compounds. He also carried out the first rudimentary experiments on gas diffusion, which was first observed by John Dalton.

Faraday was active in liquefying several gases, researching steel alloys, and producing several new forms of optical glass. A specimen of one of these heavy glasses became historically significant after Faraday determined the rotation of the plane of polarization of light when the glass was put in a magnetic field.

Faraday developed an early version of what would become the Bunsen burner, which is still used as a convenient source of heat in science laboratories around the world. Faraday was a chemist who discovered chemical compounds like benzene (which he called bicarbonate of hydrogen) and liquefied gases like chlorine.

Faraday announced the first synthesis of carbon and chlorine compounds, C₂Cl₆ and C₂Cl₄, in 1820, and published his findings the following year. Faraday also deduced the chemical structure of the chlorine clathrate hydrate, which Humphry Davy had discovered in 1810.

Faraday is often credited with discovering the laws of electrolysis and popularising concepts like anode, cathode, electrode, and ion, which were first proposed by William Whewell. He was the first to identify metallic nanoparticles, as they are now known. In 1847, he discovered that gold colloids had different optical properties than the corresponding bulk metal. This was most certainly the first discovery of the effects of quantum size, and it could be considered the beginning of nanoscience.    

Electricity and Magnetism 

Faraday's work on electricity and magnetism is what he is best known for. The creation of a voltaic pile of seven British halfpenny coins, seven discs of sheet zinc, and six pieces of paper moistened with salt water was his first known experiment. He broke down the sulphate of magnesia with this pile.

Faraday continued his laboratory work after his initial observation in 1821, investigating the electromagnetic properties of materials and gaining the necessary knowledge. Faraday set up a circuit in 1824 to see whether a magnetic field could influence current flow in an adjacent wire, but he found no such relationship. This experiment followed three years of related experiments with light and magnets, which yielded identical results. Faraday spent the next seven years perfecting his formula for optical consistency (heavy) glass, borosilicate of lead, which he would later use in his experiments linking light and magnetism.

Faraday used "static," batteries, and "animal electricity" to generate the phenomenon of electrostatic attraction, electrolysis, magnetism, and other phenomena in 1832, as part of a series of experiments aimed at determining the fundamental essence of electricity. He came to the conclusion that contrary to popular belief at the time, the distinctions between different "kinds" of electricity were illusory. Instead, Faraday suggested that there is only one "electricity," and that differing quantities and intensities (current and voltage) generate various classes of phenomena.

Diamagnetism

Faraday discovered in 1845 that certain materials had a mild repulsion to a magnetic field, which he called diamagnetism.

Faraday also discovered that by applying an external magnetic field aligned with the direction in which the light is travelling, the plane of polarization of linearly polarised light can be rotated. The Faraday effect is the name given to this phenomenon. "I have at last succeeded in lighting a magnetic curve or line of force and in magnetising a beam of light," he wrote in his notebook in September 1845.

FAQs on Michael Faraday Biography

Q1. Who is Michael Faraday’s Inspiration?

Ans: He got a ticket to attend chemical lectures by Humphry Davy while he was an apprentice bookbinder. Faraday was inspired to pursue a career in science as a result of the lectures. He finally became Davy's laboratory assistant, giving him the opportunity to study chemistry under one of the greatest practitioners of the period.

Q2. Who is Known as the Father of Electricity?

Ans. Michael Faraday, the Father of Electricity, was born on September 22, 1791. The English physicist, who is credited with the inventions of electromagnetic induction, electrolysis, and diamagnetism, was born into a poor blacksmith's family.

Q3. Mention the Date When Michael Faraday Died.

Ans. Michael Faraday died on August 25, 1867, at Hampton Court, London, England.

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• Industrial Revolution

Michael Faraday: The British Scientist Who Transformed Electrical Power

Lucy Davidson

26 aug 2022, @lucejuiceluce.

English physicist and chemist Michael Faraday (1791-1867) is widely regarded as one of the most influential scientists in history.

His pioneering experiments over the course of the early to mid-19th century greatly contributed to the understanding of electromagnetism, and he ultimately became the first and foremost Fullerian Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution, a position which he held for his whole life. He was so celebrated that the unit of electrical capacitance is called the farad in his honour, and Albert Einstein kept a picture of him above his desk.

His achievements are yet more remarkable when placed within the context of his life. Born into an impoverished family, he received little education and was largely self-taught, until a fortunate encounter started his journey towards discovery and success.

So who was Michael Faraday?

He grew up in poverty

Born in Newington, now part of South London, Michael Faraday was one of four children born to a blacksmith and a country woman. His father was often ill and unable to work, meaning that the children were frequently hungry; Faraday later recalled once being given one loaf of bread to last him a week.

Faraday learned the basics such as reading, writing and ciphering in Sunday school. At an early age he worked as a newspaper deliverer and bookbinder, and from 14 was the bookbinder’s apprentice. While there, he read many of the books that were brought in for rebinding. He found an article about electricity in the Encyclopaedia Britannica particularly fascinating.

He used his meagre pay to buy chemicals and apparatus. For instance, he made a crude electrostatic generator using old bottles and lumber.

Portrait of Michael Faraday (1791-1867)

Image Credit: Henry William Pickersgill, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

He got a job as a chemical assistant

In 1812, Faraday was offered a ticket to hear well-known scientists John Tatum and Humphry Davy speak on natural philosophy (physics). The fee for the lecture was one shilling; however, his older brother, a blacksmith, was impressed by his brother’s devotion to science so paid for him. Faraday went and was spellbound.

Faraday recorded the lectures, and eventually made additions to his notes which totalled some 300 pages, which he then sent to Davy as tribute. Davy responded immediately and favourably, and Faraday did some work for him as a writer after Davy’s eyesight was damaged in a chemical explosion. In 1813, when a formal opportunity to work in Davy’s laboratory opened, Davy offered the then 21-year-old Faraday the job as a chemical assistant at the Royal Institution. It has been said that Faraday was Davy’s greatest discovery.

He was subjected to snobbery because of his class

A year into his work, Faraday was invited to accompany Davy and his wife on an 18-month tour across Europe that included France, Switzerland, Italy and Belgium. During this time, Faraday met many significant scientists such as André-Marie Ampère in Paris and Alessandro Volta in Milan, which worked as a kind of university education.

However, in addition to his scientific and secretarial work, Faraday was required to be a personal secretary to Davy and his wife, which he did not enjoy: Davy’s wife refused to treat him as an equal, because of his working class background.

He was extremely religious

Faraday’s family belonged to a small Christian sect called Sandemanians (an offshoot of the Church of Scotland), that provided spiritual guidance to Faraday throughout his life.

In 1821, 29-year-old Faraday married Sarah Barnard, who he met through the Sandemanian church. The couple then lived in rooms in the Royal Institution for the next 46 years, including in the suite that Humphry Davy himself had once lived in.

In later life, Faraday served two terms as an elder in the meeting house of his youth. It was repeatedly noted Faraday’s religion was the single most important influence upon him and significantly affected the way he approached and interpreted nature.

He made significant scientific discoveries

Faraday’s research on the magnetic field around a conductor carrying a direct current established the fundamental concept of the electromagnetic field in physics. Faraday recorded that magnetism was able to affect rays of light, and that there was an underlying relationship between the two phenomena. He also developed electromagnetic rotary devices that formed the basis for electric motor technology, which allowed electricity to become practical for use in technology.

Faraday delivering a Christmas Lecture at the Royal Institution in 1856

Image Credit: After Alexander Blaikley, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Amongst Faraday’s other achievements were the discovery of benzene, the invention of an early form of the Bunsen burner and the system of oxidation numbers and the popularisation of terms such as ‘anode’, ‘cathode’, ‘electrode’ and ‘ion’.

He was twice offered the presidency of the Royal Society

Faraday’s esteemed career saw him involved with the Royal Institution for a total of 54 years. He held his first lecture aged 24, was made Superintendent of House and Laboratory aged 29, and was elected to the Royal Society aged 32. A year later, he became Director of the Royal Institution’s Laboratory.

Faraday ultimately became the first and most eminent Fullerian Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution, a position he held for his whole life. In 1848, aged 54, and again 1858 he was offered the Presidency of the Royal Society, but he turned down the role both times.

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Michael Faraday

Michael Faraday is known for his discoveries of electromagnetic rotations, electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism, and the magneto-optical effect, just to name but a few. Most popular historians regard him as one of the most influential scientists in the history of science. The brilliant scope as well as depth of his work spanned a period of six decades.

Faraday’s Early Years

Michael Faraday was born in Newington, London, in 1791. His father came from northern England while his mother, Margaret Hastwell, was also from northern England. Because his family was poor, young Faraday received little more than the primary education. At age 14, he was apprenticed to the bookbinder in London and read a number of books brought for binding, including Conversations on Chemistry by Jane Marcet.

Faraday was also one of the young Londoners who endlessly pursued an interest in science through gathering to hear lectures at the City Philosophical Society. One of the bookbinder’s clients gave Faraday free tickets to the lecture that was to be given by Sir Humphry Davy, and after attending, he conceived the goal of working for a great scientist. After hearing the lecture, he sent Sir Humphry Davy the notes he had made. As a result, he was appointed, at age 21, to be the assistant to Sir Humphry Davy in the lab of the Royal Institution in London.

Faraday’s First Assignment

Faraday’s first job was to accompany Sir H. Davy and his wife on his tours overseas, during which he at times had to be a personal servant to Sir Davy’s wife. Once back in England, he developed as a practical and analytical chemist. As Faraday’s chemical capabilities increased, Sir H. Davy give him more responsibilities.

In 1825, he replaced the ailing Davy in his duties directing the lab at the Royal Institution. He published all his work related to optical deceptions, condensation of gases, as well as the isolation of benzene. In 1833, he became Fullerian Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, the position to which he was appointed for rest of his life.

Greatest Achievements

Faraday is renowned for his contributions to magnetism and electricity. While people knew about electricity, it was Faraday who played an integral role in offering a constant source of electricity. In 1821, after being motivated by the work of Hans Christian, a Danish physicist and chemist, Faraday began experimenting with electromagnetism and through signifying the conversion of electrical energy into the motive force, he invented electric motor.

For the next several years, he continued to conduct experiments from his first electromagnetic finding. In 1831, he discovered the induction of the electric currents and made the very first electric dynamo. His electromagnetism theories proved influential in the novel electricity industry of the 19th century. In 1839, Faraday conducted many experiments to ascertain the fundamental nature of electricity and discovered that electrostatic force comprised of the field of curved lines of force and conceived a specific capacity. His other discoveries include the Faraday Cage, the Faraday Effect, and the process of diamagnetism, just to name a few.

Faraday’s Beliefs and Later Years

Faraday had very strong religious beliefs. He belonged to a very strict Christian sect known as the Sandemanian Church that was founded in the 18th century. His faith influenced his work and he used his discoveries to demonstrate the union of God and nature.

Faraday made other achievements during the later years of his life. In 1832, he was awarded a Doctor of Civil Law degree by Oxford University. He was elected to the French Academy of Sciences in 1844. Because of his great contribution to science, the government of Britain gave him a pension and a house in Hampton Court.

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