Michael Faraday: biography of this British physicist

Today much of the modern world works mainly thanks to the use of electricity. The use of this type of energy is therefore not exactly unknown to us.

But in order to use lamps, computers, life-support equipment or rechargeable batteries, a significant number of discoveries had to be made first. And while some of which date back to BC, mostly how to generate and apply electricity has been something that has been investigated and discovered during the Modern Age.

One of the great pioneering personalities thanks to which the development of studies on electricity and electromagnetism has been possible was Michael Faraday. He was the main discoverer of electromagnetic induction and electrolysis, the practical application of which has made possible a very important technological development. The story of this researcher is therefore of great interest, which is why in this article let's see a biography of Michael Faraday.

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The Life of Michael Faraday: A Short Biography

The birth of Michael Faraday occurred on September 22, 1791, in the village of Newington Butt (which today is not a village but one of London's neighborhoods) in the English region from Surrey. They were the third of four siblings, children of the stablessmith James Faraday and Margaret Hastwell.

The Faraday family, working class and peasant, possessed very few resources and could only offer their offspring a basic education. Initially he would go to school, but later his family decided to take him out of it and make him study at his home.

It was also common for minors to have to contribute financially to support the family, something that made Michael Faraday have to distribute newspapers from a young age. Also largely due to family beliefs A great religious conviction was born in him, and he became part of the Sandemaniana church. This faith would be a source of peace and strength for the scientist throughout his life.

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Youth and first jobs

In 1805, at the age of fourteen, young Faraday began an apprenticeship to the bookbinder's trade with a bookseller for whom he had previously run several errands, George Riebau. During this period, which would last seven years, his work allowed him to have a deep contact with a large number of literary works. He also began to cultivate a certain predilection for electrical phenomena, after reading various articles and works on chemistry and electricity.

Likewise, as he grew, so did his scientific interest (as well as his disenchantment with the world mercantile) and thanks to his brother he was able to begin to attend and be part of the Philosophical Society of the city, governed by John Tatum.

His contact with this group allowed him to begin to know the work of the chemist Humphry Davy, who was going to hold a series of lectures at the site. One of the group members got him tickets, which he managed to attend the lectures given by the chemist at the Royal Institution. In them he took a large number of notes to the point of being able to elaborate a small script. Faraday decided to send a copy to Davy and request that she work as his assistant in order to pursue science.

Start of learning him in science

Humphrey Davy received the application and, since there was a vacant assistant position and he had also had a small accident that had left him temporarily blind, he accepted Faraday first as his secretary. When his previous assistant had to be fired, he also offered the position to Michael Faraday, who became his assistant in 1813.

Despite the fact that the chemist's wife always showed deep contempt for him and would treat him like a servant, Humphry would become her protector and teacher and together with him Faraday was able to travel (despite the conflicts of the time), work and investigate aspects such as the composition of diamond or witness the discovery of benzene.

He would also establish numerous contacts and learn primarily about chemistry. In this aspect he came to excel, something that did that few after returning from these trips Faraday could begin to give training in this regard. In 1815 he published Analysis of Caustic Lime of Tuscany, his first work, in addition to numerous articles.

Great discoveries

Subsequently, he was asked to write opinion articles on scientific contributions of various authors, something that would make her recreate his experiments and meet the original authors.

It is in this context that Faraday begins to make important discoveries: in 1821 he discovered the way to apply existing knowledge regarding electromagnetism in a first electromagnetic rotor. That same year he married a young woman whom he had met in his church, Sarah Barnard, and after his previous success he began to focus and publish on the subject of electricity and magnetism.

In 1824 he was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society, and a year later he was appointed director of the Royal Society laboratory which was mentored by his at the time he met him. He started giving talks and lectures both Christmas (the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures) and weekly (the Friday Evening Discourses).

In 1831 he made another of his great discoveries, electromagnetic induction. During the year 1832 he discovered, or rather he empirically proved the existence of electrolysis. Also at that time, specifically in 1836, he developed the Faraday Cage in order to generate an electromagnetically protected area to prevent external electricity from reaching its interior. Various awards and honors were bestowed upon him, including some that were rejected such as the presidency of the Royal Society or the knighthood.

Another one investigates him, this time linked to the study of light force, gave rise to the well-known Faraday effect. This effect proposes that the action of a magnetic field can affect the polarization of light, something which corresponded to his idea that light, electricity, and magnetism meet related.

Last years and death

The 1860s would be the one that would begin to mark the decline of this great author. Already in 1839 he had suffered problems and a nervous breakdown, and little by little he began to manifest symptoms at the neuropsychiatric level. He died at his home in Hampton Court at age 75, on August 25, 1867.

His legacy is enormous: his research has greatly improved the knowledge of electromagnetic phenomena and inspired authors such as Maxwell and Thomas Edison. The electric motors or even the light bulb could hardly have been built without his work.