10 Fascinating Facts About Michael Faraday

Born into poverty on September 22, 1791, physicist Michael Faraday rose from humble beginnings to become a world-altering intellect. Despite his challenging circumstances, he refused to let his background limit his potential.

1. Michael Faraday was largely self-taught.

Growing up in a financially struggling household, Michael Faraday's father, James, was a frail blacksmith who had difficulty supporting his wife and four children in one of London's poorer districts. At the age of 13, Faraday began contributing to the family income. In 1804, bookseller George Ribeau (sometimes spelled Riebau) hired him as an errand boy, tasked with delivering and retrieving borrowed newspapers.

Not long after his 14th birthday, Ribeau offered Faraday a free apprenticeship. Over the course of the next seven years, Faraday became highly skilled in the craft of bookbinding. After work, he stayed in Ribeau's shop, reading many of the books he had helped assemble.

Like many boys from lower-income backgrounds, Faraday's formal education was limited. However, between the shelves of books, he took it upon himself to learn about chemistry, physics, and the enigmatic force known as "electricity."

2. A 300-page notebook marked the beginning of Michael Faraday’s scientific journey.

Sir Humphry Davy made monumental contributions to science, discovering five elements, including calcium and boron, in just 1808. His lectures at the Royal Institution were always packed with eager listeners.

At the age of twenty, Faraday attended four of Davy's lectures in 1812 after receiving tickets from a customer. As Davy spoke, Faraday diligently took detailed notes, compiling them into a 300-page book. Faraday sent this transcript to Davy, who, impressed by the work, hired him as a lab assistant. Later in life, when Davy was asked to name his greatest discovery, his response was: "Michael Faraday."

Tension eventually arose between mentor and protégé. As Faraday's achievements began to overshadow his own, Davy accused him of plagiarizing another scientist's work (a claim that was later discredited) and attempted to prevent his entry into the Royal Society.

3. Without Michael Faraday, we might not have electricity as we know it.

On September 3, 1821, Faraday created a device that helped propel technology into the modern era. The year before, Danish physicist Hans Christian Ørsted had discovered that an electric current flowing through a wire generates a magnetic field. Faraday built on this discovery. In the basement of the Royal Institution, he conducted a revolutionary experiment by placing a magnet at the bottom of a glass container filled with mercury. Above it, he hung a wire connected to a battery. As the electric current passed through the wire, it began to spin around the magnet.

Faraday had just constructed the world’s first electric motor. But he didn’t stop there. He went on to build the world’s first electric generator. In his initial experiment, he used a simple ring of wire and cotton through which he passed a magnet. This led him to discover that a current was generated. The principles behind this experiment are still used to produce most electricity today.

4. Michael Faraday is credited with inventing the rubber balloon.

By modern balloon standards, Faraday's early creations seem rather primitive. His balloons, which were crafted by pressing two rubber sheets together, were designed to hold hydrogen during his experiments. Faraday made his first balloon in 1824 and quickly praised its 'considerable ascending power.' The following year, toy manufacturers began producing similar models.

5. Michael Faraday is the reason we have refrigerators today.

In 1823, Faraday enclosed a sample of chlorine hydrate inside a V-shaped tube. By simultaneously heating one end and cooling the other, he observed the formation of a yellow liquid. When he broke open the tube, the ensuing explosion of glass shards left him unharmed, but a strong chlorine odor filled the air.

It didn’t take long for Faraday to understand what had occurred. The pressure inside the tube caused the gas to liquefy, and when the glass was punctured, the release of pressure caused the liquid to turn back into gas. This rapid evaporation resulted in a cooling effect on the surrounding air. Unknowingly, Faraday had paved the way for the development of the first ice-making machines and refrigeration systems.

6. Michael Faraday advocated for the fight against pollution.

As London's population expanded in the 19th century, garbage and human waste were frequently dumped into the River Thames, creating a terrible stench. In 1855, Faraday wrote an open letter urging the authorities to take action. He warned, “If we neglect this subject,” adding, “we cannot expect to do so with impunity; nor ought we be surprised if, ere many years are over, a hot season give us sad proof for the folly of our carelessness.”

As Faraday had predicted, a scorching summer in 1858 forced Londoners to endure the foul odor of the Thames. This event, dubbed “the Great Stink,” saw the city overwhelmed by the stench. In response, Parliament enacted a sweeping sewage reform bill.

7. Michael Faraday founded the Royal Institution’s Christmas Lectures.

Faraday recognized the importance of making science accessible to the general public. In 1825, while working at the Royal Institution, he launched an annual series that continues to this day. That first year, engineer John Millington gave a series of lectures on “natural philosophy” aimed at a general audience. Every subsequent year, except for the period between 1939 and 1942 due to World War II, a prominent speaker has been invited to carry on the tradition. Notable past lecturers include David Attenborough (1973), Carl Sagan (1977), and Richard Dawkins (1991). Faraday himself presented on 19 occasions.

8. Michael Faraday had difficulty with mathematics.

Due to his lack of formal schooling, Faraday's understanding of mathematics was limited, which occasionally hindered his research. In 1846, he proposed that light is an electromagnetic phenomenon, but because he could not express this theory mathematically, it was not widely accepted. It wasn’t until 1864, when physicist James Clerk Maxwell published equations [PDF] that validated Faraday's idea, that his theory gained recognition.

9. Michael Faraday may have been affected by mercury poisoning.

Faraday began experiencing memory issues at the age of 48, along with vertigo and other neurological symptoms, though the cause remained unclear. After taking a three-year break, he returned to the Royal Institution, where he continued to work in his laboratory until his early 70s.

Faraday continued to experience unexplained episodes of dizziness, depression, and severe memory loss. He once wrote about his ‘bad memory,’ stating that it ‘both loses recent things and sometimes suggests old ones as new.’ The cause of these symptoms remains unknown, though many suspect that his exposure to mercury may have contributed to his condition.

10. Albert Einstein kept a portrait of Michael Faraday in his home.

Einstein admired Faraday deeply, considering him a personal hero. Upon receiving a book about Faraday, Einstein remarked, ‘This man loved mysterious Nature as a lover loves his distant beloved.’