Michael Faraday was an English scientist who contributed to the study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. His main discoveries include the principles underlying electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism and electrolysis. Although Faraday received little formal education, he was one of the most influential scientists in history. It was by his research on the magnetic field around a conductor carrying a direct current that Faraday established the basis for the concept of the electromagnetic field in physics.
Faraday also established that magnetism could affect rays of light and that there was an underlying relationship between the two phenomena. He similarly discovered the principles of electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism, and the laws of electrolysis. His inventions of electromagnetic rotary devices formed the foundation of electric motor technology, and it was largely due to his efforts that electricity became practical for use in technology.
As a chemist, Faraday discovered benzene, investigated the clathrate hydrate of chlorine, invented an early form of the Bunsen burner and the system of oxidation numbers, and popularised terminology such as “anode”, “cathode”, “electrode” and “ion”. Faraday ultimately became the first and foremost Fullerian Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution, a lifetime position.
Faraday was an excellent experimentalist who conveyed his ideas in clear and simple language; his mathematical abilities, however, did not extend as far as trigonometry and were limited to the simplest algebra. His set of equations are accepted as the basis of all modern theories of electromagnetic phenomena. The SI unit of capacitance is named in his honour: the farad. Albert Einstein kept a picture of Faraday on his study wall.
Some of the best quotes from Michael Faraday are listed below.
- “A centre of excellence is, by definition, a place where second class people may perform first class work.” – Michael Faraday
- “A man who is certain he is right is almost sure to be wrong.” – Michael Faraday
- “As when on some secluded branch in forest far and wide sits perched an owl, who, full of self-conceit and self-created wisdom, explains, comments, condemns, ordains and order things not understood, yet full of importance still holds forth to stocks and stones around – so sits and scribbles Mike.” – Michael Faraday
- “Bacon in his instruction tells us that the scientific student ought not to be as the ant, who gathers merely, nor as the spider who spins from her own bowels, but rather as the bee who both gathers and produces.” – Michael Faraday
- “But I must confess I am jealous of the term atom; for though it is very easy to talk of atoms, it is very difficult to form a clear idea of their nature, especially when compounded bodies are under consideration.” – Michael Faraday
- “But still try, for who knows what is possible?” – Michael Faraday
- “Chemistry is necessarily an experimental science: its conclusions are drawn from data, and its principles supported by evidence from facts.” – Michael Faraday
- “Do not refer to your toy-books, and say you have seen that before. Answer me rather, if I ask you, have you understood it before?” – Michael Faraday
- “I am busy just now again on Electro-Magnetism and think I have got hold of a good thing but can’t say; it may be a weed instead of a fish that after all my labour I may at last pull up.” – Michael Faraday
- “I am no poet, but if you think for yourselves, as I proceed, the facts will form a poem in your minds.” – Michael Faraday
- “I can at any moment convert my time into money, but I do not require more of the latter than is sufficient for necessary purposes.” – Michael Faraday
- “I cannot conceive curved lines of force without the conditions of a physical existence in that intermediate space.” – Michael Faraday
- “I could trust a fact and always cross-question an assertion.” – Michael Faraday
- “I happen to have discovered a direct relation between magnetism and light, also electricity and light, and the field it opens is so large and I think rich.” – Michael Faraday
- “I have far more confidence in the one man who works mentally and bodily at a matter than in the six who merely talk about it.” – Michael Faraday
- “I propose to distinguish these bodies by calling those anions which go to the anode of the decomposing body; and those passing to the cathode, cations; and when I have occasion to speak of these together, I shall call them ions.” – Michael Faraday
- “I shall be with Christ, and that is enough.” – Michael Faraday
- “I will simply express my strong belief, that that point of self-education which consists in teaching the mind to resist its desires and inclinations, until they are proved to be right, is the most important of all, not only in things of natural philosophy, but in every department of daily life.” – Michael Faraday
- “In place of practising wholesome self-abnegation, we ever make the wish the father to the thought: we receive as friendly that which agrees with, we resist with dislike that which opposes us; whereas the very reverse is required by every dictate of common sense.” – Michael Faraday
- “It is right that we should stand by and act on our principles; but not right to hold them in obstinate blindness, or retain them when proved to be erroneous.” – Michael Faraday
- “It is the great beauty of our science, chemistry, that advancement in it, whether in a degree great or small, instead of exhausting the subjects of research, opens the doors to further and more abundant knowledge, overflowing with beauty and utility.” – Michael Faraday
- “Lectures which really teach will never be popular; lectures which are popular will never really teach.” – Michael Faraday
- “Magnetic lines of force convey a far better and purer idea than the phrase magnetic current or magnetic flood: it avoids the assumption of a current or of two currents and also of fluids or a fluid, yet conveys a full and useful pictorial idea to the mind.” – Michael Faraday
- “Nature is our kindest friend and best critic in experimental science if we only allow her intimations to fall unbiased on our minds.” – Michael Faraday
- “No matter what you look at, if you look at it closely enough, you are involved in the entire universe.” – Michael Faraday
- “Nothing is ever too good to be true.” – Michael Faraday
- “Nothing is too wonderful to be true if it be consistent with the laws of nature.” – Michael Faraday
- “Physicist is both to my mouth and ears so awkward that I think I shall never use it. The equivalent of three separate sounds of “I” in one word is too much.” – Michael Faraday
- “Shall we educate ourselves in what is known, and then casting away all we have acquired, turn to ignorance for aid to guide us among the unknown?” – Michael Faraday
- “Since peace is alone in the gift of God; and since it is He who gives it, why should we be afraid? His unspeakable gift in His beloved Son is the ground of no doubtful hope.” – Michael Faraday
- “Speculations? I have none. I am resting on certainties.” – Michael Faraday
- “The Bible, and it alone, with nothing added to it nor taken away from it by man, is the sole and sufficient guide for each individual, at all times and in all circumstances.” – Michael Faraday
- “The book of nature which we have to read is written by the finger of God.” – Michael Faraday
- “The five essential entrepreneurial skills for success are concentration, discrimination, organization, innovation and communication.” – Michael Faraday
- “The important thing is to know how to take all things quietly.” – Michael Faraday
- “The lecturer should give the audience full reason to believe that all his powers have been exerted for their pleasure and instruction.” – Michael Faraday
- “The secret is comprised in three words: work, finish, publish.” – Michael Faraday
- “The world little knows how many of the thoughts and theories which have passed through the mind of a scientific investigator, have been crushed in silence and secrecy by his own severe criticism and adverse examination!” – Michael Faraday
- “There is no more open door by which you can enter into the study of natural philosophy than by considering the physical phenomena of a candle.” – Michael Faraday
- “There’s nothing quite as frightening as someone who knows they are right.” – Michael Faraday
- “Water is to me, I confess, a phenomenon which continually awakens new feelings of wonder as often as I view it.” – Michael Faraday
- “Who would not have been laughed at if he had said in 1800 that metals could be extracted from their ores by electricity or that portraits could be drawn by chemistry.” – Michael Faraday
- “Why will people go astray when they have this blessed Book to guide them?” – Michael Faraday
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