PORTRAIT: NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE M r F sustenance. forbasic a coach-houseandstruggled the streets. The familylived inrooms above M and arithmeticatacommonday-school.” only the“rudiments ofreading, writing, ly meager. He remembered thathelearned entire week. His earlyeducationwas equal- of bread each,whichwasmeanttolastan he andhissiblingswere allottedoneloaf in 1801whenpriceswere high, particularly the familytogether. and barely madeenoughmoneytokeep difficult tofind.James wasinpoorhealth early years were hard ones,aswork was ly relocated England. from northern These their third child,bornsoonafterthefami- M who hadmoved southwithhiswife Ja is now ofLondon.Faraday’s part father, in thevillageofNewington Butts, which F F enigmatic oftheworld’s great scientists. nature ofelectricitywasonethemost The manwhowouldplumbthevery in asmall,oftendisdainedreligious sect. simultaneously maintainingmembership elite socialandscientificcircles while as well asfame,andhegainedrespect in his career. He poverty knew andisolation different socialandeconomicborders in interesting, however, ashecrossed many scientist isparticularly society. The lifeofthefamousEnglish while otherswere thetoastoffashionable personal stories.Some toiledinobscurity, © Richard A.Pizzi by trainingandprofession. T Chemist Michael Faraday, eligious faith.He andhis familywere 2004 A araday took comfort inhisfamily’saraday tookcomfort strong araday wasbornonSeptember 22,1791, ounding Faraday i cno oenpyisws nraiy achemist in reality, his iconofmodernphysicswas, mes, wasablacksmithfrom Yorkshire ost ofhistimewasspentathomeorin argaret lookingforwork. Michael was Amid allthedifficultiesofhis youth, In

his lateryears, Faraday recalled that MERICAN 19th centurieshave compelling modern scienceinthe18thand any ofthegreat pioneersof C HEMICAL S OCIETY constructed universe.” constructed beauty, ofthedivinely andsymmetry sought tocomprehend the “intelligibility, thinking onquestionsofscience, ashe would shapehisentire life,includinghis F eous”, andthisincludedotherChristians. S their adherents. Allthosewhowere not personal disciplineandcommitmentfrom nonmembers, demandingagreat dealof strict distinctionsbetween themselves and ty. This smallbandofChristiansmade only about100intheLondoncommuni- 600 Sandemanians inallofBritain, and F and tight-knitspiritualbrotherhood.” In manians have beendescribedasa“closed from theChurch ofScotland,theSande- asdissenters lished intheearly18thcentury called theSandemanians. Originally estab- members ofaProtestant Christiansect apprenticeship withthebookbinder ihe aaa,1791–1867. Michael Faraday, andemanians were considered “unright- araday’s time,there were approximately araday’s Sandemanian religious beliefs At

the ageof14,Faraday began an complete, Faraday tookfull-timework as re from science,suggestingthatitsfinancial offer him.In fact,hewarnedFaraday away the younger manbuthadnopositionto in science.Davy arrangedameetingwith r drawings, andaskedtheprominent lecture notes,whichincludedmeticulous wrote toDavy andgave himcopiesofthe made careful He copiesofthemafterward. day tookdetailednotesofthelectures and way, changehislife. These lectures would,inmore thanone Hu to attendlectures by therenowned chemist debate, in1812Faraday wasgiven tickets science through intensive reading and ing tobroaden hisunderstandingof excitedparticularly him. While continu- on electricity, galvanism, andmechanics atself-improvement,efforts thelectures intellectual interest. Anextensionofhis ic lectures anddebatetopicsofcurrent women whometweekly tohearscientif- sophical Society, agroup ofmenand In Dealing withDavy trostatic machine. experimentsandbuildhisown elec- tary which inspired rudimen- himtoperform Ma takenwithJeanwas alsoparticularly the textsthatheboundinshop. He pedia Britannica r began hisself-educationinscience.He the tradeofbookbinding,Faraday also lasted forseven years, andwhilehelearned day work regularly. The apprenticeship economic situationdemandedthatFara- ly finances,butby 1805thefamily’s errands forRibeautohelpwiththefami- G esearcher forhelpinestablishing acareer ead thescientificentriesin eorge Ribeau.He hadpreviously run wards were poor. His apprenticeship

1810, Faraday joinedtheCityPhilo- I mphry Davy attheRoyalmphry Institution. r mpressed by Davy’s brilliance,Fara- cet’s book M CHRONICLES AY 2004 Conversations onChemistry T ODAY and perused manyof and perused ’ S C EITAT HEMIST W E ncyclo- ORK 39 , CHEMISTRY CHRONICLES

a bookbinder but continued to hope for natural philosopher Hans Christian a life in science. Oersted had discovered electromagnetism Less than a year later, he got what he and opened a new field of research that desired. In early 1813, one of Davy’s labo- was growing in popularity. Faraday was an ratory assistants at the Royal Institution enthusiastic participant in these explo- was fired for fighting with a co-worker. rations. Working in his basement labora- Davy soon hired Faraday to replace the tory in the late summer of 1821, Faraday man. For much of the next two decades commenced a series of experiments that Faraday would work at the Royal Institu- led to his discovery of electromagnetic tion, first for Davy and then under his rotation. This had great practical signifi- replacement William Thomas Brande. But cance, as it would prove to be the princi- between October 1813 and April 1815, ple behind the development of the elec- Faraday accompanied Davy and his wife tric motor. Faraday published his findings Jane on a tour of continental Europe. in the October 1821 issue of the Quar- Davy lectured to appreciative audiences, terly Journal of Science. and Faraday had an opportunity to meet During the decade following his some of the most important scientists in discovery, Faraday worked principally in the world. He encountered Ampère in the field of chemistry. His most impor- Paris and visited Volta in Milan. Although tant achievements during this period were he was Davy’s lowly assistant and was treat- the liquefaction of chlorine in 1823 and ed as little more than a valet by Davy’s the isolation of benzene in 1825. He also wife, this grand tour broadened Faraday’s worked extensively on the production of cultural and scientific horizons. optical glass. As important as any research When he returned to in 1815, project to Faraday’s public reputation, Faraday reassumed his position as a chem- however, was his founding in 1826 of two ical assistant at the Royal Institution. Most lectures series: the Friday Evening Discourses of his work was that of a technician— and the annual Christmas lectures for performing chemical experiments in the adolescents. He lectured more than 140 laboratory for his superiors, but he also times in these two series from 1826 to the began lecturing on chemical theory at the early 1860s and was considered the Philosophical Society and published his premier scientific lecturer in Britain. Both first paper (on caustic lime) in 1816. Fara- lecture series continue to this day. day worked primarily for William Brande, but he also helped Davy with the devel- Electrifying Progress opment of the miner’s safety lamp in In August 1831, 10 years after his discov- 1816–1817, and he assisted surgical instru- ery of electromagnetic rotation, Faraday ment maker James Stoddart in his attempts discovered electromagnetic induction. He to improve the quality of steel. The labo- demonstrated that a magnet could induce ratory at the Royal Institution was one of an electrical current in a wire, and he was the best-equipped in the world, and Fara- able to convert mechanical energy into day benefited from close association with electrical energy. This discovery was truly the premier scientists in England. revolutionary, for it paved the way for the creation of the electric transformer and His Wife and Work generator, practical technologies that The year 1821 was one of the most signif- would profoundly change modern life. icant of Faraday’s life, both personally and Faraday continued his work on elec- professionally. In June, he married Sarah tricity for the remainder of the decade. He Barnard, whom he had met in the Sande- developed a theory of electrochemical manian church. Later that he year, he action and coined, with William Whewell, made his “confession of faith” in the now-familiar words like electrode, elec- church. He also received a promotion at trolyte, and ion. He also worked on a new the Royal Institution, where he was named theory of static electricity and electrical superintendent of the house. induction. Faraday ultimately rejected the Since his early days at the Institution, old theory that electricity was a fluid. He Faraday had worked primarily on chem- concluded that electricity was a force that ical experiments. But in 1821, this passed from particle to particle of matter. changed, as he returned to one of his early In February 1833, Faraday was named interests: electricity. In 1820, the Danish Fullerian Professor of Chemistry at the

40 TODAY’S CHEMIST AT WORK MAY 2004 www.tcawonline.org CHEMISTRY CHRONICLES

Royal Institution. He was awarded an in the first part of the decade, but he honorary degree from the University of recovered enough to renew his research Oxford and received two awards from on electricity. the Royal Society. Faraday had been previously elected to the Royal Society The Faraday Effect in 1824 over the objections of his As a result of new mathematical devel- mentor , who was then opments in the field by William Thom- president of the Society. It seems Davy son (Lord Kelvin), Faraday attempted could not imagine his former assistant to determine if light was affected when and “valet” as a colleague. Although passing through an electrolyte. He tried opposed by Davy, Faraday never the experiment twice but noticed noth- expressed hostility toward his mentor ing. Then, on September 13, 1845, he and held him in high esteem for the placed a piece of glass on the poles of rest of his life. an electromagnet and passed polarized As Faraday’s fame spread, he took light through the glass. When he turned more prominent positions in British the electromagnet on he discovered that scientific and public life. In 1836, he the light’s polarization had changed. began a lifelong association with Trin- This experiment determined that ity House, the institution responsible light was affected by magnetic force. for safe nautical navigation around This “magneto-optical effect” was later the British Isles. Faraday helped to termed the Faraday effect. After discov- improve the efficiency of lighthouses ering that glass could be affected by by inventing a chimney for oil-burn- magnetic force, Faraday experimented ing lamps. In the 1830s and 1840s, Fara- Along with professional prominence, with other substances that yielded similar day also served as a professor of chemistry the 1840s brought ill health to Michael results. The resultant effect he termed at the Royal Military Academy. Faraday. He endured a nervous breakdown “diamagnetism”. Concluding that magnet- ism was an inherent property of matter, Faraday asserted his conclusions in an 1846 lecture entitled “Thoughts on Ray Vibrations”. This lecture became the basis for the field theory of electromagnetism. The theory was extended mathematically by Thomson and, most importantly, by James Clerk Maxwell, who developed it into one of the cornerstones of modern physics. The discovery of diamagnetism was the apex of Michael Faraday’s intellectual career. His health began a steady decline through the 1850s and early 1860s, although he did continue to work with Trinity House and perform the annual Christmas lectures. Beginning in 1860, Faraday became an elder in the Sande- manian Church, that small group of believers to whom he remained loyal throughout his life. He died on August 25, 1867, and was buried in Highgate Cemetery, an acknowledged giant of Euro- pean science.

Suggested Reading Cantor, G. N. Michael Faraday: Sandemanian and Scientist; St. Martins Press: New York, 1991. Williams, L. P. Michael Faraday: A Biography; Basic Books: New York, 1965.

Richard A. Pizzi is a freelance writer based in Washington, ◆ DC. ILLUSTRATION: OF MEDICINE LIBRARY NATIONAL

42 TODAY’S CHEMIST AT WORK MAY 2004 www.tcawonline.org