Michael Faraday was born in 1791 in Newington, England. Comes from a homeless family and generally self-taught. At the age of fourteen he was an apprentice binder and selling books, and this was the opportunity he used to read books like a crazy person.
When he was twenty years old, he visited lectures given by the famous British scientist Sir Humphry Davy. Faraday was amazed and gaping. He wrote a letter to Davy and a short story fortunately accepted as his assistant.
In just a few years, Faraday was able to make new discoveries of his own creations. Although he did not have an adequate background in mathematics, as a natural scientist he was irresistible.
Faraday's first important discovery in the field of electricity occurred in 1821. Two years earlier Oersted had discovered that the magnetic needle of an ordinary compass can be shifted if an electric current is passed in a wire that is not far apart.
This led Faraday to the conclusion that when the magnet is tightened, the wire will actually move. Working on this premise, he succeeded in devising a clear scheme whereby a wire would continue to rotate near a magnet as long as an electric current was applied to the wire.
In fact in this case Faraday had invented the first electric motor, the first scheme of using an electric current to make an object move. However primitive, Faraday's invention is the "ancestor" of all the electric motors used in the world today.
This is a remarkable pacer. However, the practical uses were limited, as long as there was no method for driving an electric current apart from a simple chemical battery at the time. Faraday believed there had to be some way of using magnets to drive electricity, and he was constantly looking for ways to find that method.
Now, a non-moving magnet does not affect the electric current adjacent to the wire. But in 1831, Faraday discovered that when a magnet is passed through a piece of wire, current flows in the wire while the magnet moves.
This state of affairs is called the "electro-magnetic effect," and this discovery is called "Faraday's Law" and is generally considered to be Faraday's most important and greatest discovery.
This is a monumental discovery, for two reasons. First, "Faraday's Law" has fundamental importance in relation to our theoretical understanding of electro-magnetism.
Second, electro-magnetic can be used to continuously drive an electric current, as demonstrated by Faraday himself through the manufacture of the first electric dynamo.
Even though our generators of electricity to supply cities and factories today are far more perfect than what Faraday did, they are all based on the same principle as the electro-magnetic influence.
Faraday also contributed in the field of chemistry. He made plans to turn gas into liquid, he invented all kinds of chemicals including benzene. Even more important is his work in the field of electro-chemistry (the investigation of the effect of chemistry on electric currents).
Faraday's meticulous investigation resulted in the two laws of "electrolysis" whose name was coupled with his name, which are the basis of electrochemistry. He also popularized many terms used in this field, such as: anode, cathode, electrode and ion.
And it was Faraday who introduced to the world of physics the important idea of magnetic and electric power lines.
By emphasizing that it is not the magnet itself but the field between them, he helped prepare the way for various advances in modern physics, including Maxwell's statement of the equation between two expressions via the sign (=) such as 2x + 5 = 10.
Faraday also discovered, light is passed through the magnetic field, the combination will change. This discovery has special importance, because it is the first indication that there is a relationship between light and magnet.
Faraday is not only smart but also handsome and has a style as a speaker. However, he was simple, did not care about fame, money and flattery. He refused to be knighted and also refused to become chairman of the British Royal Society. Long and happy married life, only childless. He died in 1867 near the city of London.
MICHAEL FARADAY 1791-1867
Taken from:
One Hundred Most Influential People in History
by Michael H. Hart, 1978