MICHAEL FARADAY. 2014

“Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature”.

“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

1791-1867

English experimental physicist, chemist, discoverer of dynamo, foreign honorary member of Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1830).

A notable feature of Faraday as the scientist was that he was a thinker. He considered himself more a philosopher than just a chemist, and tried first of all to explain the essence of the processes.

Faraday is the founder of the theory of the electromagnetic field. He discovered the electromagnetic induction underlying modern industrial production of electricity and many of its applications. He created the first model of the electric motor. His other discoveries include the first transformer, the chemical action of the electric current, the laws of electrolysis, and the action of a magnetic field on light, diamagnetism. Faraday was the first to predict electromagnetic waves. He introduced the terms “ion”, “cathode”, “anode”, “electrolyte”, “dielectric”, “diamagnetism”, “paramagnetism’ into scientific use.

Faraday made a lot of discoveries in the field of chemistry. In 1824, he discovered benzene and isobutylene, was one of the first to receive chlorine, hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, ammonia, ethylene and nitrogen dioxide in the liquid state.

WORKS “Experimental researches in electricity”, “On the various forces of nature and their relations to each other”, “The Chemical History of a Candle”.