The self-made country boy who made us dominate electricity: Michael Faraday

Fraday's father was a blacksmith who had come to the village of Newington from the north of England in early 1791 to look for work. His mother was a calm and intelligent peasant woman who had been a great emotional support to Faraday during his difficult childhood. Faraday and his three siblings, whose fathers were often sick and had difficulty finding a job, spent their childhood half-starved. In his short education, he only had to learn reading, writing and some arithmetic. Faraday is rather a self-taught scientist. He learned literacy and calculus at the church's Sunday school. He was apprenticed to a bookbinder at the age of thirteen. In this work, which he continued until March 1813, he began to expand his knowledge by reading the books brought to be bound. Thanks to this, he read many books in his youth. He especially read physics books with great enthusiasm and desire. He was particularly impressed by the electricity item in the third edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. The other book he was influenced by was Jane Marcet's Conversations on Chemistry. He began experimenting with a simple electrostatic generator made from old bottles and scrap parts. He also conducted electrochemistry experiments using a weak Volta battery he had made himself.

He showed experimentally that a certain amount of electric current passing through a substance causes a certain amount of dissolution of the components of that substance. This result allowed the production of the first electricity meters. Another important contribution of Faraday is that he gave the precise definition of the unit of current called "ampere". We owe the terms "electrode", "anode", "cathode", "electrolyte", "ion" etc. in electrolysis to him. With a ticket provided by a customer at the Royal Institute in London, he had the opportunity to attend chemistry lectures given to the public by the famous chemist Sir Humphrey Davy in 1812. In 1813, with Davy's support, he found a job as a laboratory assistant at the Royal Institution. Meanwhile, Michael Faraday got married. During his tour of France, Italy and Switzerland between October 1813 and April 1815, Sir Humphrey Davy took Michael Faraday with him as assistant secretary and accompanied him. During this trip, he had the opportunity to meet many famous scientists. In 1820, he left Davy's side as an assistant. Faraday, who gained fame with an unprecedented speed in the scientific community, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Sciences in 1823; He was appointed laboratory director in 1825. He devoted his whole life to the work of the institute. Even if Faraday had been content with his work in electro-chemistry, he would have had an important place in the history of science. But the real achievement that put him among the pioneers of science is his discoveries on electromagnetics.

For the first time, Faraday describes electricity as a "force". In the 1820s, scientists focused their studies more on electrical issues. The most important of these were Volta's electric battery and Danish scientist Hans Christian Örsted's magnetic magnet power source produced from electric current. Örsted found in 1820 that an electric current passing through a wire creates a magnetic field around the wire. The French physicist Andre Marie Ampere also showed that the magnetic force around the wire is circular, in fact a magnetic cylinder is formed around the wire. In this case, an isolated magnetic pole could be obtained, and if placed near a current-carrying wire, the wire would have to make a continuous rotation around its circumference. Thinking that the reverse of this phenomenon is also true and that the magnetic field can also produce electric current, Faraday started experiments on this subject. In 1831, he showed that a powerful magnet moved near a coil creates an electric current. This was a very important meeting; because it opened the way to generate a large amount of electric current. Ever since magnetism was produced from electrical energy, the biggest thought of scientists was, "Can electrical energy be obtained from magnetism?" had a question. Faraday has worked on this issue from time to time. Meanwhile, he made his first scientific discovery. He developed a reversible cable system around a magnet, thus converting electrical energy into mechanical energy for the first time. This discovery was considered the basis of electric motors. Over the next 10 years, Faraday increased his work in chemistry. Discovered Benzene and butylene in coal tar and produced the first stainless steel. It liquefied chlorine and some other gases. He found new types of glass for optical instruments such as the microscope. He showed that a hollow conductor (Faraday cage) shields electrical effects. The idea of ​​obtaining electrical energy through magnetism was constantly challenging him. In 1822 he wrote treatises on converting magnetism into electricity.

When Faraday deepened his research, he made two important discoveries. electrical force; chemical molecules did not decompose by affecting them from afar, as was thought until that day, the decomposition of the molecules occurred when a current passed through a conductive liquid medium. This was true whether the current came from the poles of a battery or was discharged, for example, into the air. Secondly, the amount of dissociated matter was directly dependent on the amount of electricity passing through the solution. These findings led Faraday to create a new theory of electrochemistry. Accordingly, the electrical force put the molecules in a state of tension. Queen Victoria wanted to give Faraday the title of "sir" for his contributions to science, but Faraday refused to accept this title because he wanted to live as a simple citizen. He never thought of making money from his inventions and turned down job offers from industrialists. Faraday was not very interested in the practical consequences of his discoveries. But that didn't mean he failed to grasp the significance of those results. As a matter of fact, when the prime minister of the time asked him what the dynamo could do, he said, "I don't know, but I can tell you that your government will be able to tax it one day."

In 1839 he developed a new general theory of electricity. Electricity causes stresses in the material. If these stresses can be eliminated quickly, the rapid formation of the stress in a sequential and periodic manner will move through the material like a wave motion. Such materials are called conductors. Insulators, on the other hand, are materials that require very high stresses to dislodge their particles. Accordingly, the electrical force put the molecules in a state of tension. In 1839 he developed a new general theory of electricity. Electricity causes stresses in the material. The sequential and periodic rapid formation of stress propagates through matter like a wave motion. Such materials are called conductors. Insulators, on the other hand, are materials that require very high stresses to dislodge their particles. For 30 years, while continuing his experiments in the laboratory, he also advised the National Lighthouses Administration of England and Wales “Trinity House” on the types of lamps to be used in lighthouses. Experiments on electrolysis eventually came up with two laws of electrolysis named after him. He studied the effect of the magnetic field on light and found what is called the Faraday effect. After 1855 Faraday's mental strength began to wane. He occasionally did experimental work. Queen Victoria donated a house at Hampton Court to Faraday in recognition of her great contributions to science. He died in London Hampton Court on August 25, 1867.