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Michael Faraday is one of the greatest scientists in the history of man's work in electricity. He was born in 1791 in a small village near London. Michael grew in a poor family. His family belonged to a small Christian sect. He was given basic education, but most of his knowledge he got himself. At the age of 13 Michael went to work in a bookbinder’s shop, where he could read much. One of the bookbinder’s customers gave Faraday free tickets to lectures given by Davy at the Royal Institution. Davy was a British chemist and inventor. After attending Faraday was sure his goal was working for the great scientist. Michael Faraday became an analytical and practical chemist. Davy helped him to work at the Chemistry laboratory at the Royal Institution. He travelled with Davy and did a lot of experiments. He did about 30000 experiments during his life. Michael Faraday got interested in the concept of energy specifically force. Due to his experiments he was able to make important discoveries in electricity later. He became a famous chemist and a physicist, a founder of the doctrine of the electromagnetic field. Faraday discovered that electricity could be made by moving a magnet inside a wire coil, he was able to build the first electric motor. He later built the first generator and transformer. The scientist discovered electromagnetic induction and laws of electrolysis. He proved that atoms contain particles that have electric charges. Michael Faraday’s inventions also included methodologies. One example is cryogenics, which began in Faraday’s lab in 1823 when he produced sub-freezing temperatures. Faraday even worked on the relationship between gravity and electricity. He experimented with the transmission of light through solutions. He introduced several words that we still use today to discuss electricity – ion, electrode, cathode and anode. The scientist became a professor of Chemistry at the Royal Military Academy. Faraday gave a series of nineteen Christmas lectures for young people, a series which continues today. The objective of the lectures was to present science to the general public in the hopes of inspiring them and generating revenue for the Royal Institution. Faraday died at his house in 1867, aged 75. Faraday was buried in Highgate Cemetery. Albert Einstein kept a picture of Faraday on his study wall. Physicist Ernest Rutherford stated, “When we consider the magnitude and extent of his discoveries and their influence on the progress of science and of industry, there is no honour too great to pay to the memory of Faraday, one of the greatest scientific discoverers of all time.“
