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\"Faraday\" redirects here. For other uses, see Faraday (disambiguation).

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Michael Faraday FRS
Faraday, c. 1850s
Born	(1791-09-22)22 September 1791 Newington Butts, Surrey, England
Died	25 August 1867(1867-08-25) (aged 75) Hampton, Middlesex, England
Known for	\n Inventing the homopolar motor (1821) \n Discovering benzene (1825) \n Discovering electromagnetic induction (1831) \n Formulating Faraday's laws of electrolysis (1833) \n Performing Faraday's ice pail experiment (1843) \n Discovering the Faraday effect (1845) \n
Spouse	\n Sarah Barnard (m. 1821)
Awards	FRS (1824) Bakerian Medal (1829, 1832, 1849, 1851, 1857) Royal Medal (1835, 1846) Copley Medal (1832, 1838) Rumford Medal (1846) Albert Medal (1866)
Scientific career
Fields	\n Chemistry\n Electrochemistry \n Physics\n Electromagnetism \n Optics \n
Institutions	Royal Institution\n

1st Fullerian Professor of Chemistry
In office 1833\u20131867
Succeeded by	William Odling
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Signature

Michael Faraday (/\u02c8f\u00e6r\u0259de\u026a, -di/; 22 September 1791 \u2013 25 August 1867) was an English chemist and physicist who contributed to the study of electrochemistry and electromagnetism. His main discoveries include the principles underlying electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism, and electrolysis. Although Faraday received little formal education, as a self-made man, he was one of the most influential scientists in history.^[1] It was by his research on the magnetic field around a conductor carrying a direct current that Faraday established 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.^[2]^[3] 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.^[4] The SI unit of capacitance, the farad, is named after him.^[5]\n

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.\n

Faraday was an experimentalist who conveyed his ideas in clear and simple language. His mathematical abilities did not extend as far as trigonometry and were limited to the simplest algebra. Physicist and mathematician James Clerk Maxwell took the work of Faraday and others and summarised it in a set of equations which is accepted as the basis of all modern theories of electromagnetic phenomena. On Faraday's uses of lines of force, Maxwell wrote that they show Faraday \"to have been in reality a mathematician of a very high order \u2013 one from whom the mathematicians of the future may derive valuable and fertile methods.\"^[6] \n

Albert Einstein kept a portrait of Faraday on his study wall, alongside those of Isaac Newton and James Clerk Maxwell.^[7] Physicist Ernest Rutherford stated, \"When we consider the magnitude and extent of his discoveries and their influence on the progress of science and of industry, there is no honour too great to pay to the memory of Faraday, one of the greatest scientific discoverers of all time.\"^[1]\n

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v t e Michael Faraday
Physics	\n Faraday's law of induction \n Faraday effect \n Faraday cage \n Faraday constant \n Farad \n Faraday cup \n Faraday's laws of electrolysis \n Faraday paradox \n Faraday rotator \n Faraday-efficiency effect \n Faraday wave \n Faraday's ice pail experiment \n Faraday efficiency \n Electrochemistry \n Faraday disc \n Line of force \n
Lectures	\n Royal Institution Christmas Lectures \n The Chemical History of a Candle \n
Related	\n Michael Faraday Memorial \n Faraday Building \n Faraday Building (Manchester) \n Faraday (crater) \n Faraday Future \n IET Faraday Medal \n Royal Society of London Michael Faraday Prize \n Institute of Physics Michael Faraday Medal and Prize \n Faraday Medal (electrochemistry) \n Faraday Lectureship Prize \n
\n $\"\"$ Category:Michael Faraday \n

v t e Scientists whose names are used as units
SI base units	\n Andr\u00e9-Marie Amp\u00e8re (ampere) \n Lord Kelvin (kelvin) \n
SI derived units	\n Henri Becquerel (becquerel) \n Anders Celsius (degree Celsius) \n Charles-Augustin de Coulomb (coulomb) \n Michael Faraday (farad) \n Louis Harold Gray (gray) \n Joseph Henry (henry) \n Heinrich Hertz (hertz) \n James Prescott Joule (joule) \n Isaac Newton (newton) \n Georg Ohm (ohm) \n Blaise Pascal (pascal) \n Werner von Siemens (siemens) \n Rolf Maximilian Sievert (sievert) \n Nikola Tesla (tesla) \n Alessandro Volta (volt) \n James Watt (watt) \n Wilhelm Eduard Weber (weber) \n
Non-SI metric (cgs) units	\n Anders Jonas \u00c5ngstr\u00f6m (angstrom) \n Peter Debye (debye) \n Lor\u00e1nd E\u00f6tv\u00f6s (eotvos) \n Galileo Galilei (gal) \n Carl Friedrich Gauss (gauss) \n William Gilbert (gilbert) \n Heinrich Kayser (kayser) \n Johann Heinrich Lambert (lambert) \n Samuel Langley (langley) \n James Clerk Maxwell (maxwell) \n Hans Christian \u00d8rsted (oersted) \n Jean L\u00e9onard Marie Poiseuille (poise) \n Sir George Stokes, 1st Baronet (stokes) \n John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh (rayl) \n
Imperial and US customary units	\n Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (degree Fahrenheit) \n Johann Heinrich Lambert (foot-lambert) \n William John Macquorn Rankine (degree Rankine) \n
Non-systematic units	\n Alexander Graham Bell (bel/decibel) \n Marie Curie & Pierre Curie (curie) \n John Dalton (dalton) \n Michael Faraday (faraday) \n Heinrich Mache (mache) \n John Napier (neper) \n Ren\u00e9 Antoine Ferchault de R\u00e9aumur (degree R\u00e9aumur) \n Wilhelm R\u00f6ntgen (roentgen) \n J. J. Thomson (thomson) \n Evangelista Torricelli (torr) \n
List of scientists whose names are used as units \u00b7 Scientists whose names are used in physical constants \u00b7 People whose names are used in chemical element names

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Biography

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Chemistry

Electricity and magnetism

Diamagnetism

Faraday cage

Royal Institution and public service

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Awards named in Faraday's honour

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Bibliography

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Further reading

Biographies

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Biographies

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Michael Faraday

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