Michael Faraday: Inventor of the Electric Motor
Michael Faraday was born on 22 September 1791 in south
London, England. His family poor and Michael received only a
basic education. When he was 14, he was a local bookbinders
apprentice and during the next seven years, educated himself
by reading books on a wide range of scientific subjects such as
physics and chemistry. In 1812, He attended four lectures given
by the chemist Humphrey Davy at the Royal Institution. Subsequently, he wrote to Davy asking for a job as his assistant. Davy
turned him down bu t in 1813 appointed him to the job of chemical assistant at the Royal Institution.
Michael Faraday
A year later, Faraday was invited to accompany Davy and
his wife on a European tour, taking in France, Switzerland, Italy
and Belgium and meeting many influential scientists. In 1821 he
published his work on electromagnetic rotation (the principle behind the electric motor). In 1826, he founded the Royal Institution's Friday Evening Discourses and in the same year the
Christmas Lectures, both of which continue to this day.
In 1831, Faraday discovered electromagnetic induction (i.e.
the magnetic lines of force), the principle behind the electric
transformer and generator. This discovery was crucial in his career. In 1833, Michael develops the laws of electrolysis. During
the remainder of the decade he worked on developing his ideas
about electricity. He was partly responsible for coining many familiar words including 'electrode', 'cathode' and 'ion'. Faraday's
scientific knowledge was harnessed for practical use through
official appointments, including scientific adviser to Trinity
House (1836-1865) and Professor of Chemistry at the Royal
Military Academy in Woolwich (1830-1851).
However, in the early 1840s, Faraday's health began to deteriorate and he did less and less engineering and scientific research. He died on 25 August 1867 at Hampton Court, where
he had been given official lodgings in recognition of his contribution to science. He gave his name to the 'farad', originally describing a unit of electrical charge but later a unit of electrical
capacitance.
Reference
BBC, Michael Faraday Biography, Accessdate http://
www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/faraday_michael.shtml
History Mole, Michael Faraday Timeline, Accessdate http://
www.historymole.com/cgi-bin/main/results.pl?theme=10011419