As soon as you turn on a fan, charge your phone or switch on a light bulb, you are using a technology that changed the entire world. But, who made it all possible? The answer is not just one person but if we talk about the most important figure that was behind electricity then only one person can be titled as the “Father of Electricity”. Do you know who that person is? In this article we will break down who is given this title and what was the reason behind it.
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Who is Known as the Father of Electricity?
Michael Faraday was born in Newington, Surrey, England on September 22, 1791. He was born into a very underprivileged family, and he was quite curious to know about the things around him and asked lots of questions.
When he was just 13 years old, he became an errand boy for a bookbinding shop in London where he read every book he used to bound. This was the start of his habit of reading and self-learning, which altered the course of his whole life.
The US Energy Information Administration mentions: “Born in 1791 to a poor family in England, Michael Faraday was extremely curious, questioning everything. He felt an urgent need to know more. At age 13, he became an errand boy for a bookbinding shop in London. He read every book that he bound, and decided that one day he would write a book of his own.”
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His life took a different path when he was given free tickets to lectures of Sir Humphry Davy. He attended his lectures and took notes with concentration. Davy was impressed by Faraday's enthusiasm, and so he offered him a job as his assistant at the Royal Institution in London.
The Science History Institute Museum and Library mentions: “One of the bookbinder’s customers gave Faraday free tickets to lectures given by Sir Humphry Davy at the Royal Institution, and after attending, Faraday conceived the goal of working for the great scientist. On the basis of Faraday’s carefully taken notes of Davy’s lectures, he was hired by Davy in 1813.”
How Did Michael Faraday Discover Electricity?
The story of Faraday and electricity is quite inspirational in the history of science. He tried and worked with the principles of electromagnetism and discovered that if a magnet was moved through a loop of wire the wire became electrified. He invented the electric motor in 1821, and the first dynamo (Faraday disc) in 1831.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science mentions: “Although Faraday worked in chemistry and discovered benzene, his greatest discoveries involved electricity. He experimented with electromagnetism and found that moving a magnet through a loop of wire would electrify the wire. In 1821, he invented the electric motor, and in 1831 he made the first dynamo, known as the Faraday disc, a forerunner of today's electrical generator, when he discovered the induction of electric currents. Faraday's law of induction is the basic operating principle of transformers and many types of electrical motors and generators.”
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Further in 1831, using his "induction ring”. He came up with the electromagnetic induction and generation of electricity by the electromagnetic effect in a wire. The first electric transformer was also the induction ring.
The US Energy Information Administration mentions: “In 1831, using his "induction ring", Faraday made one of his greatest discoveries - electromagnetic induction: the "induction" or generation of electricity in a wire by means of the electromagnetic effect of a current in another wire. The induction ring was the first electric transformer.”
Michael Faraday is an example that shows that your beginning doesn’t define your end. A boy who had humble beginnings who could not afford a proper education, from London, powered the entire world.
