The English physicist Michael Faraday, who grew up in a poor family, became one of the greatest scientists in the history of mankind. His outstanding achievements were made at a time when science was the inheritance of people born in privileged families. In his honor, a unit of electric capacity was named - farad.
Faraday (physicist): short biography
Michael Faraday was born on September 22, 1791 in London, the capital of Great Britain. He was the third child in the family of James and Margaret Faraday. His father was a blacksmith who was in poor health. Before marriage, his mother worked as a servant. The family lived poorly.
Until the age of 13, Michael attended a local school, where he received primary education. To help the family, he began working as a messenger in a bookstore. The zeal of the boy impressed his employer. A year later, he was promoted to apprentice bookbinder.
Bookbinding and science
Michael Faraday wanted to know more about the world; he was not limited to the restoration of books. After hard daily work, he spent all his free time reading books that he bound.
Gradually, he discovered that he became interested in science. He especially liked two books:
- The British Encyclopedia is the source of his knowledge of electricity and much more.
- Conversations on Chemistry - 600 pages of chemistry in an accessible presentation by Jane Mars.
He was so fascinated that he began to spend part of his meager income on chemicals and equipment to confirm the truth of what he was reading.
Expanding his scientific knowledge, he heard that the famous scientist John Tatum was going to give a series of public lectures on natural philosophy (physics). To attend lectures it was necessary to pay a fee of one shilling - too much for Michael Faraday. His older brother, a blacksmith, impressed by his brother's growing dedication to science, gave him the required amount.
Introducing Humphrey Davy
Faraday took another step toward science when William Dance, a bookstore client, asked Michael if he had any desire to get tickets for lectures at the Royal Institute.
The lecturer, Sir Humphrey Davy, was one of the most famous scientists in the world at that time. Faraday seized on the chance and attended four lectures on one of the newest problems in chemistry - determination of acidity. He watched the experiments that Davy conducted in lectures.
It was a world in which he would like to live. Faraday kept notes and then made so many additions to the notes that he produced a 300-page manuscript, which he himself bound and sent to Davy in gratitude.
At this time, Michael began to conduct more complex experiments in the backyard of the bookstore to create an electric battery of copper coins and zinc disks, separated by wet salty paper. He used it to decompose chemicals, such as magnesium sulfate. Humphrey Davy was a pioneer in this field of chemistry.
In October 1812, Faraday’s apprenticeship ended, and he began working as a bookbinder for another employer, whom he found unpleasant.
There would be no happiness, but misfortune helped
And then a happy event happened for Faraday. As a result of an unsuccessful experiment, Humphrey Davy was injured: this temporarily affected his ability to write. Michael managed to record for several days for Davy, impressed by the book that he sent him.
When the short period of work as an assistant ended, Faraday sent a note to the scientist asking him to hire him as his assistant. Soon after, one of Davy's laboratory assistants was fired for misconduct, and Humphrey asked Michael if he would like to take a vacant seat.
Would he like to work at the Royal Institute with one of the most famous scientists in the world? This was a rhetorical question.
Careers at the Royal Institute
Faraday took up his duties on March 1, 1813, at the age of 21.
He was well paid and allocated a room in the attic of the Royal Institute for living. Michael was very pleased, and his connection with this institution was no longer interrupted for 54 years, during which he managed to become a professor of chemistry.
The work of Faraday consisted in the preparation of equipment for experiments and lectures at the Royal Institute. At first, he dealt with nitrogen trichloride, an explosive that injured Davy. Michael also lost consciousness for a short time during the next explosion, and when Humphrey was injured again, experiments with this compound were stopped.
After 7 months of work at the Royal Institute, Davy took Faraday with him on a tour of Europe, which lasted 18 months. During this time, Michael managed to meet great scientists such as Andre-Marie Ampère in Paris and Alessandro Volta in Milan. In a sense, the tour replaced his university education - Faraday learned a lot during this time.
Most of the tour, however, he was unhappy, because in addition to the scientific and secretarial work he had to serve Davy and his wife. The scientist’s wife did not consider Faraday equal to herself because of his origin.
Upon returning to London, everything fell into place. The Royal Institute renewed Michael's contract and increased his remuneration. Davy even began to mention his help in scientific work.
In 1816, at the age of 24, Faraday gave his first lecture on the properties of matter. She passed in the City Philosophical Society. Then in the “Quarterly Scientific Journal” he published his first scientific article on the analysis of calcium hydroxide.
In 1821, at the age of 29, Faraday was promoted to the position of head of the household and laboratory at the Royal Institute. In the same year he married Sarah Barnard. Michael and his wife lived at the institute for most of the next 46 years, no longer in the attic, but in the comfortable room that Humphrey Davy had once occupied.
In 1824, the biography of Faraday (physicist) was marked by his election to the Royal Society. This was a recognition that he became a prominent scientist.
In 1825, the physicist Faraday became the director of the laboratory.
In 1833, he became a Fuller chemistry professor at the Royal Institute of Great Britain. Faraday held this position for the rest of his life.
In 1848 and 1858 he was asked to head the Royal Society, but he refused.
Scientific achievements
To describe the discoveries of Faraday in physics, it will take more than one book. It is no accident that Albert Einstein in his office kept photographs of only three scientists: Isaac Newton, James Maxwell and Michael Faraday.
Oddly enough, although during the life of the scientist they began to use the word “physicist”, he himself did not like it, and he always called himself a philosopher. Faraday was a man who went to discoveries through experiments, and he was known for never abandoning the ideas that came to him through scientific intuition.
If he thought the idea was worth it, he continued the experiments, despite many setbacks, until he reached the expected or until he was convinced that mother nature proved him wrong, which was extremely rare.
So what did Faraday discover in physics? Here are some of his most notable accomplishments.
1821: discovery of electromagnetic rotation
It became a harbinger of what ultimately led to the creation of an electric motor. The discovery was based on Oersted's theory of the magnetic properties of a wire through which an electric current passes.
1823: gas liquefaction and cooling
In 1802, John Dalton suggested that all gases can be liquefied at low temperatures or high pressures. The physicist Faraday proved this empirically. He first turned chlorine and ammonia into a liquid.
Liquid ammonia was also interesting in that, as Michael Faraday noted, the physics of the process of its evaporation caused cooling. The principle of cooling by means of artificial evaporation was publicly demonstrated by William Cullen in Edinburgh in 1756. A scientist using a pump reduced the pressure in a flask of ether, resulting in its rapid evaporation. This caused cooling, and ice formed on the outside of the flask from moisture in the air.
The importance of Faraday’s discovery was that mechanical pumps could turn gas into liquid at room temperature. Then the liquid evaporated, cooling everything around, the obtained gas could be collected and compressed using the pump again into the liquid, repeating the cycle. This is how modern refrigerators and freezers work.
In 1862, Ferdinand Carré demonstrated the world's first commercial ice machine at the London World's Fair. In the machine, ammonia was used as the coolant, and it produced ice at a speed of 200 kg per hour.
1825: discovery of benzene
Historically, benzene has become one of the most important substances in chemistry, both in the practical sense, that is, it is used to create new materials, and in theory to understand the chemical bond. Scientist discovered benzene in the oily residue of gas production for lighting in London.
1831: Faraday law, formula, physics of electromagnetic induction
This was an extremely important discovery for the future of science and technology. Faraday’s law (physics) states that an alternating magnetic field induces an electric current in the circuit, and the generated electromotive force is directly proportional to the rate of change of the magnetic flux. One of his possible entries is | E | = | dΦ / dt |, where E is the EMF and Φ is the magnetic flux.
For example, moving a horseshoe magnet along a wire produces an electric current, since the movement of the magnet causes an alternating magnetic field. Prior to this, the only source of current was the battery. Michael Faraday, whose discoveries in physics have shown that motion can be converted into electricity, or, in a more scientific language, kinetic energy can be converted into electrical energy, thus participating in the fact that most of the energy in our homes today is produced by this principle.
Rotation (kinetic energy) is converted into electricity by electromagnetic induction. And rotation, in turn, is obtained by the action of high pressure steam created by the energy of coal, gas or atom, or by the pressure of water in hydroelectric power stations, or by air pressure in wind power stations.
1834: laws of electrolysis
Faraday physicist made a major contribution to the creation of a new science of electrochemistry. It explains what happens at the interface between the electrode and the ionized substance. Thanks to electrochemistry, we use lithium-ion batteries and batteries supplying modern mobile technology. The laws of Faraday are important for our understanding of electrode reactions.
1836: the invention of the shielded camera
The physicist Faraday discovered that when the electric conductor is charged, all the excess charge accumulates on its outer side. This means that inside the room or cage made of metal, an additional charge does not appear. For example, a person dressed in a Faraday suit, i.e., with a metal lining, is not exposed to external electricity. In addition to protecting people, the Faraday cage can be used to conduct electrical or electrochemical experiments that are sensitive to external interference. Shielded cameras can also create dead spots for mobile communications.
1845: discovery of the Faraday effect - magneto-optical effect
Another important experiment in the history of science was an experiment that first proved the connection between electromagnetism and light, which in 1864 was completely described by the equations of James Clerk Maxwell. The physicist Faraday found that light is an electromagnetic wave: “When the opposite magnetic poles were on the same side, this had an effect on the polarized beam, which, thus, proves the connection of magnetic force and light ...
1845: discovery of diamagnetism as a property of all matter
Most people are familiar with ferromagnetism by the example of ordinary magnets. Faraday (physicist) found that all substances are diamagnetic - mostly weak, but strong ones are also found. Diamagnetism is the opposite of the direction of the applied magnetic field. For example, if you place the north pole at a strongly diamagnetic substance, then it will repel. Diamagnetism in materials, induced by very strong modern magnets, can be used to achieve levitation. Even living things like frogs are diamagnetic and can soar in a strong magnetic field.
the end
Michael Faraday, whose discoveries in physics revolutionized science, died on August 25, 1867 in London at the age of 75. His wife Sarah lived longer. The couple had no children. All his life he was a devout Christian and belonged to the small Protestant sect of the Sandemanians.
During his lifetime, Faraday was offered a burial in Westminster Abbey, along with the kings and queens of Great Britain and scholars, like Isaac Newton. He refused for a more modest ceremony. His grave, where Sarah is also buried, can be found at Highgate Cemetery in London.