Biography of Michael Fararday

1. THE BOOKBINDER
By—MAINAK SINGHA BARMA, 3RD
YEAR, EE
1804. 13 year old Michael went on trial for 12 months as an errand-boy to a bookseller and stationer at No 2,
Blandfort Street –Mr. George Riebau. When he first went to Riebau, it was his duty to carry round the newspapers in
the morning. But after some days, Riebau noticed that this bright-eyed boy is not only made for this job.
But Michael had no any option. Son of an ailing, impoverished blacksmith, who had only the most basic education,
had to do any kind of job to survive him and his six-member family. At a very young age, he had some defect in his
speech, one of the major reasons which distracted him for further formal education.
After the year of trial, Michael was formally apprenticed to learn the arts of bookbinding, stationer and bookseller
from Mr. Riebau; and that helped him in future. During his seven years of apprenticeship, there came unexpected
opportunities for self-improvement. Michael saw a huge mine of books and resolved to explore it. Variety of books
came from different people to Riebau’s shop for bookbinding. Michael often read out those books in meantime of
his bookbinding job. Riebau himself encouraged Michael’s propensity to read books—those handed to him for
bookbinding and any other that he could lay his hands upon. One day he got a book-- ‘The Improvement of the Mind’
by Isaac Watts. Read that well; some part he understood, some part not. After some days a man came to Riebau’s
shop, gave Encyclopaedia Britannica for binding. That night turning out page by page of that book, Michael saw an
interesting word—‘Electricity’. Read out the total article about the topic enthusiastically. Interestingly, this was the
first time when his attention is turned into science.
Meantime while doing the bookbinding job, Michael also read Jane Marcet’s ‘Conversations in Chemistry’; one of the
legendary books at that time, which gave him the basic knowledge about the chemical components. A few years
after, eminent scientist Alessandro Volta was invited by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte in France to demonstrate his
voltaic pile. That time Michael himself built a voltaic pile in his room. At very early age, Michael had a habit of
keeping a diary, where he used to note down anything new which he first ever learned or saw.
Towards the end of his seven-year apprenticeship, he had the good fortune to receive from one of his master’s
friend William Dance’s ticket for four lecture-demonstrations given in the spring of 1812 at the Royal Institution(RI)
of Great Britain by one of Europe’s foremost scientist, Sir Humphrey Davy. And that was the first life changing
opportunity for Michael.
The day comes, when Michael was mesmerized by Davy’s carefully prepared, well-rehearsed, fluently delivered
performances and breathtaking demonstration. Michael, without thinking, note down the speech of the total
demonstration and lecture of Davy. Later he rewrote them with illustrations, indexed and bound and sent them to
Davy as a tribute with his request to be employed in the service of science at the RI.
After read that 300-page book, Davy was very impressed by the work of Michael. But unfortunately he was not
reluctant to employ Michael under his works as he was doubtful about Michael’s formal knowledge in science.
Heartbroken Michael continued his bookbinding job. But his destiny want different.
1813. Davy damaged his eyesight in an accident when he was doing a lab experiment on Nitrogen Trichloride. As
there was a vacant place for chemical lab assistant and unable to do any lab experiments by his own, Davy thought
about Michael and decided to employ him as an assistant. Michael was very happy, not for his good salary, but for
getting the huge opportunity to serve himself in the world of science.
Being a chemical lab assistant Michael works in many scientific aspects of chemistry along with Davy. After just seven
months at the RI, Davy took him as his secretary on a tour of Europe that lasted 18 months. During that period,
Michael met some of the greatest scientists of that time around the Europe. However he was unhappy for much of

2. the tour as he was treated to be a personal servant by Mr. and Mrs. Davy. Especially Mrs. Davy refused to treat
Michael as an equal because of his lower class background.
Back in London, Michael decided to do work independently at RI along being an assistant of Davy. He began his
experiments in the field of chemistry and electricity, wrote several papers in science journals. His works on
Magnetism and Electricity made a remarkable impression around the globe of science. In this situation, Davy is
become jealous by the rising fame of Michael. As a result when Michael wanted to become an elite member of RI;
Davy, who was the president of RI at that time, not granted the application of Michael. But this time Michael didn’t
quiet, and continued his works on scientific phenomenon and by the help of other members of RI, he became a
member of RI in 1824.
And from that day, he never looked back, continued his works and invented Electromagnetic relations (1821);
Electromagnetic induction (1831); Electrolytic decompositions (1833); Relation between light, electricity, magnetism
(1845), Gravity and electricity (1849) and many more things.
Yes, this blacksmith’s boy, who was a bookbinder once upon a time, is nothing but the one of the greatest scientist
of all time----Michael Faraday (1791-1867); the person for which we now live in a new era of science, the era of
Electricity………
“……The more we study the work of Faraday with the perspective of time, the more we are impressed by his
unrivalled genius as an experimenter and natural philosopher. When we consider the magnitude and extent of his
discoveries and their influence on the progress of science and industry, there is no honour too great to pay to the
memory of Michael Faraday -- one of the greatest scientific discoverers of all time…. “
---- Ernest Rutherford, 1931
References: 1)www.wikipedia.com
2)www.thefamouspeople.com