Michael Faraday was born on the 21st of September 1791 in Newington Butts, a district that is now part of the London Borough of Southwark, into a family that possessed almost no money. His father James was a blacksmith who had converted to the strict Glasite sect of Christianity and moved the family from the rural village of Outhgill to London in the winter of 1790. The young Michael received only the most basic schooling, yet his life was about to be shaped by the very trade that would eventually fund his scientific genius. At the age of 14, he became an apprentice to George Riebau, a local bookbinder and bookseller on Blandford Street. During his seven-year apprenticeship, Faraday did not merely bind books; he devoured them. He read Isaac Watts's The Improvement of the Mind and Jane Marcet's Conversations on Chemistry with such fervor that he began to implement the principles of self-education and logic into his daily life. He attended lectures by the City Philosophical Society and developed a deep fascination with electricity, a field that would eventually consume his entire existence. This humble beginning, far from the ivory towers of Oxford or Cambridge, set the stage for a man who would prove that genius could be forged in the workshop of the working class.
The Self-Taught Chemist
In 1812, at the age of 20, Faraday attended lectures by the eminent chemist Humphry Davy at the Royal Institution. He took meticulous notes during these talks and bound them into a 300-page volume, which he sent to Davy. The response was immediate and kind, leading to an opportunity that would change the course of scientific history. In 1813, Davy appointed Faraday as Chemical Assistant at the Royal Institution, a position that arose after Davy's own assistant was dismissed and Davy needed a replacement. The two men worked closely together, and in a moment of tragic irony, both were injured in an explosion caused by the preparation of nitrogen trichloride, a substance Davy had asked Faraday to prepare. This early period of their collaboration was marked by danger and discovery. Faraday's chemical work was extensive and groundbreaking. He discovered benzene, which he called bicarburet of hydrogen, and carbon tetrachloride. He conducted the first rough experiments on the diffusion of gases and succeeded in liquefying several gases, including chlorine. His work on the composition of chlorine clathrate hydrate and the development of new types of glass for optical purposes laid the foundation for future advancements in materials science. Faraday's ability to translate complex chemical concepts into clear, accessible language made him a pioneer in the field, and his discoveries in electrochemistry, such as the laws of electrolysis, remain fundamental to modern chemistry.