Every Wednesday at six o'clock, a speaker gives a talk at the British Institute's Harold Acton Library as part of the cultural programme, and yesterday was no exception. When I heard that Sir John Meurig Thomas was due to give a lecture entitled 'The Character, Legacy and Genius of Michael Faraday', I must say I wasn't quite sure what to expect. As someone not overly scientifically minded, I feared feeling rather out of my depth hearing about a man who a quick internet search revealed was one of the fathers of electromagnetism. I was, however, completely won over by Sir John's passion and eloquence on the subject, as well as the subject itself, since Faraday, as Thomas so well demonstrated, was far more influential than I could ever have imagined.
Sir John, hailing from Llanelli in Wales, has had an illustrious scientific and academic career which has seen him hold such grand positions as Director of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, Honorary Professor of Materials Science at the University of Cambridge (as well as serving as master at the university's oldest college, Peterhouse, from 1993-2002), and Deputy Pro-Chancellor at the University of Wales - to name but a few. It is in particular his position at the Royal Institution that makes his connection with Michael Faraday all the more personal, as he lived in the same flat as Faraday, who also served as the Institution's Director. He was given an effusive welcome not only by an enthusiastic audience, but also by an affectionate introduction from the University of Florence's Rector, Luigi Dei, who has translated Sir John's 1991 book Michael Faraday and the Royal Institution: the Genius of Man and Place into Italian.
Michael Faraday was born in 1791, in what used to be a hamlet called Newington Butts, but what is now the London Borough of Southwark. He came from a humble background; his father was a journeying blacksmith and Michael, the third of four children, ended his formal education when he was 13 years old. After leaving school, the young Faraday became an apprentice to a bookbinder in Marylebone, central London, a position which indirectly helped shaped his ultimate career trajectory. In such a trade Faraday had the opportunity to read widely, allegedly reading all the books he bound, and his interest was piqued in particular by scientific works of his time like Conversations on Chemistry by Jane Marcet. Such was Faraday's ostensible curiosity that one customer invited him to hear a speech by Sir Humphrey Davy at the Royal Institution in 1812, which compelled him to write out Davy's lectures, including in them his own diagrams and annotations, and binding them himself. He then sent the resultant work to Davy himself. Davy, then Director of the Institution, was a luminary of his generation not only in science, but also in literature, enjoying a close relationship with Romantic poets such as Wordsworth and Coleridge and even proofreading their Lyrical Ballads of 1798. Davy was so impressed by Faraday's work that he wrote him on Christmas Eve the same year, saying that he was 'far from displeased' with Faraday's 'great zeal' and 'power of memory', asking the young man to come and work under him at the Royal Institution. At this point Sir John, a Welshman, added humorously that the words 'far from displeased' could only have been written by an Englishman due to their dramatic understatement of the impression the young Faraday had made.
It was thus that Faraday's scientific career began to burgeon, and, indeed, throughout the rest of his life he served science ceaselessly, aided as much by his intense religious conviction as by his own individual curiosity. Sir John highlighted the many ways in which Faraday had left an unequalled legacy. He is most famous for discovering electromagnetic induction, for example, whereby mechanical work can be converted to electrical work simply by waving metal rods through magnets. This discovery was so essential that we owe much telecommunication, including the all-encompassing Internet, and medical technology such as MRI to him, but, although this alone would guarantee anyone a place in the proverbial scientific hall of fame, this was but one of his many legacies. He also founded essential processes like electrolysis, discovered the key organic compound Benzene, coined concepts such as critical temperature, the continuity of states, and the concept of the 'field' - the backbone in nuclear physics. He even helped design a miner's safety lamp with Davy during the heavy incidence of workers being poisoned by subterranean gases, an invention which led the Tsar of Russia to send a personal letter of thanks to him. Of particular interest to me, I was excited to learn that he travelled to Florence to use the Duke of Tuscany's lens, then the best in Europe, to conduct experiments on the nature of diamond - thus leading to the discovery that the precious material was indeed made of elemental carbon. The list goes on. I had not thought one man could be capable of so many achievements.
Sir John told the tale of Faraday with gusto and brio, to use Italianate terms, and left us in awe of his character, legacy and genius. His respect for the man led him to propose a £20 note with Faraday's picture replacing that of Shakespeare in 1991 in honour of the 200th centenary of his birth. His zeal for the topic was infectious, he lauded not only his hero's scientific achievements but his character: his 'timeless, Chekhovian writing style' and his 'unquenchable curiosity'. His lecture was so fascinating and refreshingly approachable that I felt extremely fortunate to have been given the opportunity to listen to it. I'm already looking forward to next week's talk!
Sir John, hailing from Llanelli in Wales, has had an illustrious scientific and academic career which has seen him hold such grand positions as Director of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, Honorary Professor of Materials Science at the University of Cambridge (as well as serving as master at the university's oldest college, Peterhouse, from 1993-2002), and Deputy Pro-Chancellor at the University of Wales - to name but a few. It is in particular his position at the Royal Institution that makes his connection with Michael Faraday all the more personal, as he lived in the same flat as Faraday, who also served as the Institution's Director. He was given an effusive welcome not only by an enthusiastic audience, but also by an affectionate introduction from the University of Florence's Rector, Luigi Dei, who has translated Sir John's 1991 book Michael Faraday and the Royal Institution: the Genius of Man and Place into Italian.
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| Sir John (second from right) was given a heartfelt welcome by his longtime colleague and friend Luigi Dei (second from left) |
Michael Faraday was born in 1791, in what used to be a hamlet called Newington Butts, but what is now the London Borough of Southwark. He came from a humble background; his father was a journeying blacksmith and Michael, the third of four children, ended his formal education when he was 13 years old. After leaving school, the young Faraday became an apprentice to a bookbinder in Marylebone, central London, a position which indirectly helped shaped his ultimate career trajectory. In such a trade Faraday had the opportunity to read widely, allegedly reading all the books he bound, and his interest was piqued in particular by scientific works of his time like Conversations on Chemistry by Jane Marcet. Such was Faraday's ostensible curiosity that one customer invited him to hear a speech by Sir Humphrey Davy at the Royal Institution in 1812, which compelled him to write out Davy's lectures, including in them his own diagrams and annotations, and binding them himself. He then sent the resultant work to Davy himself. Davy, then Director of the Institution, was a luminary of his generation not only in science, but also in literature, enjoying a close relationship with Romantic poets such as Wordsworth and Coleridge and even proofreading their Lyrical Ballads of 1798. Davy was so impressed by Faraday's work that he wrote him on Christmas Eve the same year, saying that he was 'far from displeased' with Faraday's 'great zeal' and 'power of memory', asking the young man to come and work under him at the Royal Institution. At this point Sir John, a Welshman, added humorously that the words 'far from displeased' could only have been written by an Englishman due to their dramatic understatement of the impression the young Faraday had made.
It was thus that Faraday's scientific career began to burgeon, and, indeed, throughout the rest of his life he served science ceaselessly, aided as much by his intense religious conviction as by his own individual curiosity. Sir John highlighted the many ways in which Faraday had left an unequalled legacy. He is most famous for discovering electromagnetic induction, for example, whereby mechanical work can be converted to electrical work simply by waving metal rods through magnets. This discovery was so essential that we owe much telecommunication, including the all-encompassing Internet, and medical technology such as MRI to him, but, although this alone would guarantee anyone a place in the proverbial scientific hall of fame, this was but one of his many legacies. He also founded essential processes like electrolysis, discovered the key organic compound Benzene, coined concepts such as critical temperature, the continuity of states, and the concept of the 'field' - the backbone in nuclear physics. He even helped design a miner's safety lamp with Davy during the heavy incidence of workers being poisoned by subterranean gases, an invention which led the Tsar of Russia to send a personal letter of thanks to him. Of particular interest to me, I was excited to learn that he travelled to Florence to use the Duke of Tuscany's lens, then the best in Europe, to conduct experiments on the nature of diamond - thus leading to the discovery that the precious material was indeed made of elemental carbon. The list goes on. I had not thought one man could be capable of so many achievements.
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| A picture of Faraday on the commemorative £20 note of 1991 |
Sir John told the tale of Faraday with gusto and brio, to use Italianate terms, and left us in awe of his character, legacy and genius. His respect for the man led him to propose a £20 note with Faraday's picture replacing that of Shakespeare in 1991 in honour of the 200th centenary of his birth. His zeal for the topic was infectious, he lauded not only his hero's scientific achievements but his character: his 'timeless, Chekhovian writing style' and his 'unquenchable curiosity'. His lecture was so fascinating and refreshingly approachable that I felt extremely fortunate to have been given the opportunity to listen to it. I'm already looking forward to next week's talk!
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