Michael Faraday- Extraordinary scientist and human being
M.V.N. Murthy, The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai

There are few scientists who through the magnitude and extent of their discoveries have had definitive influence on the progress of science and technology. Michael Faraday is one them. He directly contributed to several fields of Science. His contribution to electricity and magnetism led to the formulation of Electro-magnetic theory by James Clerk Maxwell. His experiments led to several discoveries in Chemistry including that of Benzene. He was also a proto-typical environmental scientist and refused to use his scientific skills in war efforts. He was not just a great scientist but an extra-ordinary human being. And he did all this with little formal education. It is therefore no wonder that Albert Einstein kept a picture of Faraday on his study wall, alongside pictures of Isaac Newton and James Clerk Maxwell.

Growing years
Faraday was born in a little village just north of London in the year 1791. His father was a blacksmith and he grew up under harsh conditions with limited means. Nevertheless it was a close knit family with strong faith in religion. The family followed a particularly open and liberal form of Protestantism, Sandemanians, which was a major influence in Faraday's life.
He attended school until he was thirteen years old when he had to leave to support his family by finding a job as an apprentice to a book binder. The job was routine, but Faraday found that he could now read books that interested him, especially, as he said ``I loved to read the scientific books which were under my hands...". In between he also found time to attend lectures on different topics in the house of one John Tatum. The first important breakthrough in his career came when he attended lectures by the then well-known scientist Humphry Davy (known for Davy's lamp which was used by Coal miners as a warning device) of the Royal Institution in 1812. He made careful and extensive notes of Davy's lectures. The portrait shows Michael Faraday in his late thirties.
Inspired by these lectures, he wrote to the President of the Royal Society, Sir Joseph Banks, asking if he could become get involved in scientific work at the Royal Society. Receiving no reply, he wrote to Humphry Davy sending copies of the notes he had taken. Davy arranged a meeting but advised Faraday to continue working as a book binder. Fortunately for Faraday an assistant of Davy had to be sacked and Faraday was hired for the position of an assistant to Davy at the Royal Institution. Now there was no looking back for young Faraday.
Within a year, in 1813, Davy set out on a scientific tour of Europe accompanied by his family and Faraday. The trip was not easy on Faraday since he had to perform the duties of assistant as well as a servant to the family. He was not particularly well treated during this tour as he was not considered a ``Gentleman" in a very class-conscious society. Nevertheless there were many positives since Faraday met the French scientist Ampere in Paris and the Italian scientist Volta in Milan in Italy. His scientific interests broadened during this tour.

Contributions to Chemistry
On his return to London, Faraday started his scientific work and published his first paper in 1816 on caustic lime. After his marriage to Sarah Barnard in 1821, he made the Royal Institution his home as well as his laboratory. For the next ten years his major scientific contributions were made in the field of Chemistry. Two important contributions were liquefaction of Chlorine and isolating the chemical compound Benzene both of which made a huge impact. Because of his contributions he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1824 in spite of the opposition from his mentor Humphry Davy whose class prejudice coloured his judgement. In fact Davy was the President of Royal Society at that time and had to be over-ruled by other Fellows. In spite of this, Faraday always held Davy in very high regard. Harriet Moore painted this picture of Michael Faraday in his lab. (Source Wikipedia)

Discovery of Electromagnetic Induction
During the ten years from 1830 onwards, Faraday made important discoveries in electricity and magnetism and by the end of this period was in a position to put all pieces together into a coherent theory. His most important discovery was ``Electro-Magnetic Induction". We almost take this for granted now, even in schools such experiments are common. All motorised vehicles are fitted with battery charging equipment which is done through induction. However, during the time before Faraday, it was thought that electricity and magnetism were two different theories. Faraday showed that a moving magnet can induce electric current in a closed loop of conducting wire. This lead to the development of the Dynamo using which mechanical energy could be converted into electrical energy. All power generating equipments use this idea every where.
He showed that electrical charges are distributed uniformly on the surface of a conductor when it is closed. In fact, if a person were to sit inside such a closed conducting shell, the person will not experience any electric field. This is known as the Faraday cage and has immense applications in practical life. For example the metallic body of a car, or air plane, acts as a Faraday cage so that even during heavy lightening the passengers sitting inside do not feel the otherwise deadly effect of lightning. Demos of Faraday cages are usually show-stoppers in Museums, as seen from the photo on the cover page of JM.
Yet another important discovery was that the magnetic field affects the plane of polarised light. This was important since this discovery showed that light could be considered as a form of electro-magnetic wave, thus unifying the description of light, electricity and magnetism. This important discovery led to the later formulation of electo-magnetic theory, by James Clerk Maxwell. Though Faraday was not a trained mathematician--his knowledge did not extend beyond trigonometry--his discoveries led to important developments in theoretical physics and mathematics. Indeed we have only cited a few of Faraday's important discoveries leaving out many other important ones.

Faraday and Children
Apart from his own scientific work, Faraday took a lot of interest in communicating the excitement of science to children and the public in general. He was an excellent teacher. He introduced a series called the Christmas lectures for children in 1826 at the Royal Institution. He continued this series till the end of his life. The last two lectures by him in this series were given in 1859 and 1860. In 1859 he gave Christmas lectures on various forces of matter. In 1860 he gave lectures on the chemical history of the candle. These two have been published and have become classics. The back inside cover of JM shows a typical Christmas lecture. The Christmas lectures started by Faraday continue to this day reaching many more children and public. It is the longest running such series anywhere in the world.

Environmentalist
Faraday was a proto-typical environmental scientist. He investigated industrial pollution near London, air pollution at the Royal Mint and commented on the pollution and foul smell in the river Thames.
The British government sought his advice on the production of chemical weapons for use in the Crimean War of 1853. Michael Faraday refused to oblige as he did not believe in using science for destructive purposes. His science was founded on strong ethics.
The last few years of his life saw Faraday's mental abilities decline. He died in the year 1867 aged 75. The Times of London noted in its obituary ``Gladly would he learn, and gladly teach. The cause of science would meet with fewer enemies, its discoveries would command ready assent were all its votaries imbued with the humility of Michael Faraday".