Faraday, Michael
The Englishman Michael Faraday (1791 - 1867), son to a blacksmith apprentice, was a chemist and physicist. Although a self-made man, he was one of the most influential scientists of his time.
He established that a magnetic field causes a polarization rotation of light, now known as Faraday effect. Thereby, he introduced the concept of electromagnetic field, the theoretical basis of which was completed by James Clerk Maxwell in the 1860s.
As a chemist, he discovered, among others, benzene and carbon tetrachloride, invented an early form of the Bunsen burner and the system of oxidation numbers, and popularised terminology such as anode, cathode, electrode and ion.
He lent his name to to the farad, the unit of electrical capacitance.
See also
Last modified:10 January 2026 12.28 p.m.