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Why? The essential and eternal question
Born in 1791, Michael Faraday had a naturally curious disposition –
the essential quality of a scientist. He used to question everything in
sight. Hailing from a poor family in Surrey, England, he set out to earn
his living as an errand boy in a bookbinding shop. He had reached the
right place. His voracious appetite for information and the multitude of
questions that his mind was teeming with drove him to read each and every
book that he could lay his hands on.
As he gathered information of all sorts, he became interested in the
concept of force and energy. The groundwork for the discoveries that he
was to make later in life was laid.
A
letter that opened the lab gate
Michael’s
appetite for more knowledge was further whetted when he attended a lecture
by prominent British chemist Sir Humphry Davy. During the lecture, he took
notes and then sent these notes and a letter to Sir Humphry Davy at the
Royal Institution asking for a job. Thankfully for mankind, his
application was considered and in March 1813, he became a laboratory
assistant at the Royal Institution. At work, surrounded by apparatus,
books and people that could give shape to the many ideas and thoughts he
was teeming with, Michael got down to work at what he was best in. He
immersed himself in the study of chemistry and became an analytical
chemist. The year 1823 saw him discovering the liquefaction of chlorine
and the year 1825 saw him discovering a new substance, benzene. He made
several other discoveries in the field of chemistry. However, his greatest
contribution to modern science was in the field of electricity.
Electrifying
contributions
Michael
Faraday’s work laid the foundation of many electro-technology
inventions. His work led to the making of many devices which gave us
devices that modern man cannot do without.
Faraday’s
voracious appetite for reading helped him keep up with developments made
by other scientists. When in 1821 the phenomenon of electromagnetism was
discovered, Faraday took the work further. He built devices to utilize
electromagnetism. He worked on the force – his favorite topic – that
emanated from electromagnetism. Ten years later, in August 1831, his
greatest discovery – electromagnetic induction – was ready. What he
demonstrated was the ‘induction’ or generation of electricity in a
wire, which was produced by the electromagnetic effect of a current in
another wire. The first electric transformer was born. His experiments
continued and the next discovery was the production of steady electric
current. And the first generator was born.
Faraday’s
experiments with electricity continued and in 1832, he demonstrated that
the electricity produced from a battery, static electricity and that
induced from a magnet were all the same. He branched into electrochemistry
and stated the First and Second Laws of Electrolysis.
He thus prepared the base for electrochemistry.
Father
of Electrical Engineering
Later
scientists have appreciated and marveled at his work saying that he had a
kind of intuitive ability to arrive at conclusions that can be proved only
by mathematical analysis. And Faraday had very little formal education
because of which he hardly used mathematical formulae. Many have
acknowledged him the “Father of Electrical Engineering” and some have
hailed him to be the ‘early morning light’ in the field of electrical
science.
Discoveries
that resulted from Faraday’s work
Michael
Faraday’s devices are of no practical use today but his work laid the
foundation of many electro-technology inventions. His work led to the
making of many devices which, with further work done on them, gave us
devices that modern man cannot do without at all. These are the modern
electric motor, generator and transformer.
His
research papers titled “Experimental
research into electricity”, formed the inspiration and basis for the
work of a young French scientist Hippolyte Pixii, who constructed an
electric generator based on Faraday’s principles. The generators used in
power stations today are direct descendants of Pixii’s generators based
on Faraday’s principles.
James
Clark Maxwell worked with Faraday’s theories regarding the movement of
force between bodies with electrical and magnetic force and formulated an
exact mathematical theory of propagation of electromagnetic waves. Working
further on the same lines, his work laid the foundation for radio
communication. Radio communication was developed on an experimental basis
by Hertz in 1888. Guglielmo Marconi introduced its practical usage by the
turn of the century.
Lectures
that popularized science
Michael
Faraday used his oratory skills to popularize science. He had a schedule
of lectures that he would deliver on Friday evenings and these lectures
popularized many advances made by nineteenth century scientists. These
lectures were restarted and presented several times over at different
locations to different audiences by the Royal Institution.
He believed in capturing impressionable and curious young minds.
He, therefore, he initiated a series of scientific lectures for children
also. The lectures called The Royal
Institution Christmas Lectures are still being held regularly.
An
award in his honor
The
Faraday Medal constituted in 1922 is given for notable achievements in
Electrical Engineering. There are no nationality restrictions; the award
recognizes only true merit. There
have been sixty-six recipients of the medal until now.
Recognition
Faraday
had been elected to the Royal Society in 1824 and was appointed director
of the laboratory of the Royal Institution. The year 1933 saw him
occupying the chair vacated by Sir Davy, who had been holding the post of
professor of chemistry. Several scientific honors came his way. Among
them were Royal and Rumford medals of the Royal society. He was even
offered the post of the president of the Society. He wrote a number of
papers for various journals. He has also been acknowledged as a
philosopher of sorts. His published works also include Chemical
Manipulation written in 1827,
Experimental Researches in Electricity completed in 1955 after several
years of research on the subject, and
Experimental Researches in Chemistry and Physics brought out in 1859.
He however declined.
Michael
Faraday passed away on August 25, 1867, in Surrey leaving a legacy of
knowledge behind. “The book of nature, which we have to read, is written
by the finger of God.” This statement by Michael Faraday shows the true
scientist in him who sowed many seeds of knowledge for others to reap.
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