Page 18 - 366089 LP246226 In and Around Magazine 52pp A5 (September 2022)

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Notable Birthday:
Michael Faraday
Despite being born on September the 22nd, 1791, to a very poor family, Michael Faraday went on to become one of the greatest scientists in history. At a time when the sciences were typically preserved for those born into wealth, Faraday defied all odds and made incredible discoveries about electricity.
Michael was the third child of James and Margaret Faraday. Despite his family living in extreme poverty, Michael attended school until he was 13, and was then apprenticed to a book binder.
It was during his time working as a book binder, that Michael began to educate himself and developed an interest in science. He would spend all of his free time after his working day, reading books about science, and eventually started spending his wage on chemicals and apparatus to prove that what he was reading was true.
John Tatum became a prominent inspiration for Faraday, especially after he attended his lectures on natural philosophy. Faraday’s brother gave him the shilling it would cost to attend, after being impressed by his brother’s devotion to the sciences.
Faraday was later asked by a customer of the bookshop, William Dance, if he would like to attend a lecture by Sir Humprhy Davy. During the talk, Faraday took so many notes that he was able to bind them into a 300-page book, which he sent to Davy as a tribute. He had also begun to carry out more advanced scientific research, building an electric battery using copper coins and zinc discs, and using it to decompose chemicals.
After Sir Davy was injured in an accident, Faraday managed to negotiate being his note taker for a few days. He then wrote to Davy, asking for a position as an assistant, which he was granted after another assistant was fired for misconduct.
By the age of 21, Faraday was working at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, and living in a room in the attic. After just seven months of work, Davy asked Faraday to accompany him as his
secretary on an 18 month tour of Europe.
Over the years that followed, Faraday was given many promotions at the Institution, rising to the Fullerian Professor of Chemistry by 1833. In 1848 and 1858 he was offered the Presidency of the Royal Society, but turned it down on both occasions.
Faraday’s most notable discoveries include electromagnetic rotation (the basis for the motor), gas liquefaction and refrigeration, discovering the Benzene, electromagnetic induction, electrolysis, and the Faraday Cage.
Michael Faraday died on the 25th of August, 1867 at the age of 75. He and his wife Sarah had no children and he even turned down a burial in Westminster Abbey, alongside Britain’s Kings, Queens and the likes of Isaac Newton. Instead, his grave can be seen in London’s Highgate Cemetery, alongside his wife.
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