While 19th-century London was a place where dreams often met dead ends,
one boy's curiosity would light up the world.
We take electricity for granted today,
but have you ever wondered who made these discoveries possible?
Michael Faraday came from the slums and revolutionized physics.
Born in 1791, Faraday grew up in a poor neighborhood south
of the River Thames, the son of an apprentice to the village blacksmith.
Life was incredibly harshlargely due to the Industrial Revolution,
which brought a massive influx of people into the city, leading
to severe overcrowding and abysmal sanitary conditions. (referring to poop on the street)
Faraday recalled being given one loaf of bread that had to last him for a week,
hardly enough to sustain him.
But he received plenty of spi ritual sustenance from his family’s small Christian sect.
Faraday learned to read and write at Sunday school - he barely had a primary school education.
What he lacked in money and education, he made up for with an insatiable curiosity.
He started working as a bookbinder at the age of 13, binding books hour after hour, day after day.
The only perk was his ability to read every book he could get his hands on.
The more he read, the more he understood what he lacked in education.
He tried his best to speak well and made sure his friends corrected him when he didn’t.
One of his favorite books emphasized the importance of critical thinking
and the crucial role of observation in understanding the world around him.
The book deeply impacted Faraday, teaching him to rely on careful
observation during his groundbreaking experiments.
Growing up, he had heard about the discovery in Italy by Alessandro Volta of the voltaic cell,
or battery, which, for the first time ever, provided a continuous flow of electricity.
Before that, devices like tin foil-lined glass jars
stored electricity but released their charge in a single burst.
The idea of a continuous stream of electricity ignited a fire within Faraday.
How could he choose any career other than one in science?
Faraday managed to snag a ticket to attend a lecture by Sir Humphry Davy
at the Royal Institution, where eminent scientists presented their research.
A customer at the bookshop where he worked, William Dance,
had been impressed with Faraday’s passion for science and offered him a free ticket.
Faraday was mesmerized by the lecture, neatly recording every word in his notes.
He hoped to get a job at the esteemed scientific academy, the Royal Society.
Only to later find out that when he wrote to its president, Sir Joseph Banks, Banks,
or perhaps his secretary, had written on the letter he sent: “No answer required.”
Faraday wondered if he was destined to bind books for the rest of his life.
But then…he got a break.
The bookshop customer who had given Faraday the ticket to see Humphrey Davy suggested Davy hire
Faraday when Davy was temporarily blinded by an explosion in his lab and needed help.
This was just a temporary position.
The only permanent opening Davy had at the Royal Institution was for a bottle washer..he had to
fire the one he had for fighting….it was the lowest of low positions at the Institution.
But it was a foot in the door.
And Faraday accepted.
Davy recognized his talents, and soon, he became a lab assistant,
helping with experiments like extracting sugar from beetroot.
Working for Davy afforded him a unique opportunity to travel across Europe,
mingle with leading scientists, and open his eyes to the world.
Quite the journey for the son of a blacksmith who had never ventured outside of London.
He built a reputation as a proficient chemist, then the frontier of science.
He analyzed the gases emitted by aging eggs.
Tested methods of drying various meats and fish as food for sailors.
And isolated the organic chemical compound benzene.
Then came bombshell news that turned his attention to another domain in science.
Hans Christian Oersted in Denmark had put a magnetic compass near
his battery and was surprised to see that the compass needle moved.
His discovery revealed that an electric current could generate a magnetic field.
At that time, few scientists thought there was any connection between electricity and magnetism.
The French physicist André-Marie Ampère then described the intricate
link between electricity and magnetism through a detailed tapestry of mathematical formulas.
These math models were completely foreign to Faraday because of his limited education.
It was akin to reading Chinese.
Yet, his lack of education may have been a blessing in disguise.
Since Faraday couldn't lean on formulas and equations,
he leaned into his intuition and powers of observation.
He had to do his own experiments to understand a topic which pushed him
to design experiments that others hadn't dreamed of.
One of his early experiments showed how electricity and magnetism could produce motion.
He stuck a magnet at the bottom of a glass container.
Then filled the glass with a conductive liquid,
mercury in his case, water with table salt in our case.
He dangled a wire over the cup.
When he passed an electric current through the wire, the wire rotated around the magnet.
This rotational motion was due to the interaction between the magnetic field
produced by the electric current in the wire and the magnetic field of the magnet.
Faraday had built the world’s first electric motor.
Fast forward to today, and the legacy of this
principle can be seen every time a Tesla glides past you on the road.
EVs are descendants of Faraday's foundational work of turning electrical energy into motion.
His friend and brother-in-law George helped with the experiment and recalled:
“I shall never forget the enthusiasm expressed in his face and the sparkling in his eyes.”
Faraday, on the other hand, wrote in his journal,
simply, “Very satisfactory, but make a more sensible apparatus.”
He published his work in a scientific journal, catapulting him to fame.
Much to the apparent jealousy of Sir Humphry Davy,
who was now being overshadowed by his former bottle cleaner.
Faraday became a fellow of the Royal Society.
His Friday evening lectures at the Royal Institution became hugely popular.
He also began to give Christmas lectures for kids at a time when education for children was rare.
The tradition continues today.
Faraday emerged as England’s leading lecturer on science.
He was offered numerous opportunities in consulting that would have made him very wealthy.
But, he chose the pursuit of science over financial gain.
While his professional life took off, his personal life blossomed, too.
He fell in love with George’s sister, 19-year-old Sarah.
They were devoted to one another their whole lives.
Which was an about-face for someone who was once pessimistic about love, writing:
What is the pest and plague of human life? And what is the curse that often brings a wife?
‘tis love.
They had no children of their own yet lived rich lives.
Sarah supported him in any way she could, ensuring he ate nourishing food
and making sure he had time to relax after hard work in his laboratory.
Ten years had passed since his famous electric motor experiment.
Though he made other discoveries in between, something was nagging at him.
If an electric current could produce a magnetic field, could the reverse be true:
could amagnetic field induce an electric current?
Many had tried, all had failed.
Yet Faraday persisted.
His observations led him to a critical insight: it wasn't just the presence of
a magnetic field that could induce an electric current, but the change in the magnetic field.
Electricity only forms when the magnet is moved.
When he moved a magnet inside a coil of wire, he induced an electric current.
But when the magnet was stationary, no current was observed.
This groundbreaking work demonstrated a two-way relationship: while electric currents
can produce magnetic fields, the converse is also true: A changing magnetic field
leads to the creation of electric currents—a principle known as electromagnetic induction.
Consider Niagara Falls.
The falling water turns big turbines, which then spin magnets around coils of wire. This
creates shifting magnetic fields in the coils. And just as Faraday discovered,
these changing magnetic fields generate electric currents.
From there, the electricity is transmitted through power lines straight to your home.
While Faraday's experiments were groundbreaking,
it took serious math skills, which he lacked, to realize their true potential.
Enter James Clerk Maxwell.
He took the findings of Faraday (and others) and translated their pioneering work into a set
of comprehensive mathematical formulas, now recognized as Maxwell's Equations.
These equations elegantly express how electric and magnetic fields are intertwined,
ultimately leading to the identification of electromagnetic waves like radio waves,
microwaves, visible light, and X-rays.
This understanding later played a pivotal role in the creation of radios,
TVs, and, in due course, cellular communication.
So, Faraday's hands-on experiments,
combined with Maxwell's theoretical mastery, laid the foundation for today's technological era.
Faraday was deeply interested in understanding the
fundamental nature of forces and finding a unifying explanation for them all.
His faith drove his deep curiosity, as he saw the laws of nature as the handiwork of God,
and by studying them, he was studying the divine.
He speculated about the possible relationship between electricity and gravity…to no avail.
Some of his peers thought his limited math skills made him ill-equipped for advanced theorizing.
As the years passed, Faraday's cognitive abilities began to decline,
making it challenging to produce work at the same intensity that once brought him renown.
The strain on his physical and mental well-being showed in the
untamed whiteness of his hair as he grew older.
Nevertheless, he did what he could.
He served as scientific advisor to the Trinity House,
a historic institution responsible for mariner safety around the British Isles.
During Faraday’s time, lighthouses served as vital guides, quite literally signaling
the difference between life and death for sailors.
Under his guidance, electric lighting began to replace traditional oil and gas lamps.
He was so committed to his work that even at the age of 70,
he personally went to sea to test the reliability of the new lights!
In recognition of his profound impact on science, Faraday was
offered a knighthood, which he turned down.
He felt that he should remain “plain Mr. Faraday to the end."
Faraday did, however, accept a gift of a house from Queen Victoria,
spending the last years of his life in a house at Hampton Court in London.
On August 25, 1867, Michael Faraday died of natural causes. He was 75 years old.
His gravestone in London's Highgate Cemetery is modest, mirroring his lifelong humility,
yet standing in stark contrast to his immense contributions to science.
Despite his challenges with math, Faraday shined
through his deep understanding and intuition about the natural world.
Like Faraday, many of us face hurdles in areas we wish to excel in.
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Thanks for watching, I’m Cindy Pom.