Faraday, Michael 1791-1867
English chemist and physicist, creator of classical field theory

Born in Newington Butts near London, the son of a blacksmith, he was apprenticed to a bookbinder whose books sparked his interest in science. In 1813, after applying to Humphry Davy for a job, he was taken on as his temporary assistant, accompanying him on a European tour during which he met many top scientists and gained an unconventional but invaluable scientific education. In 1827 he succeeded to Davy's chair of chemistry at the Royal Institution, in that year publishing his Chemical Manipulation. His early publications on physical science include papers on the condensation of gases, limits of vaporization and optical deceptions. He was the first to isolate benzene, and he synthesized the first chlorocarbons. His great life work, however, was the series of Experimental Researches on Electricity published over 40 years in Philosophical Transactions, in which he described his many discoveries, including electromagnetic induction (1831), the laws of electrolysis (1833) and the rotation of polarized light by magnetism (1845). He received a pension in 1835 and in 1858 was given a house in Hampton Court. As adviser to the Trinity House in 1862 he advocated the use of electric lights in lighthouses. Greatly influential on later physics, he nevertheless had no pupils and worked with only one assistant. He is generally considered the greatest of all experimental physicists.

Bibliography: L Pearce, Michael Faraday (1987)