Michael Faraday was an influential British scientist in the 19th century who made fundamental contributions to electromagnetism and electrochemistry through his discoveries of electromagnetic induction and electrolysis. He was born into poverty but became an apprentice bookbinder where he became interested in science, leading him to assist renowned scientist Humphry Davy and later become a researcher and director at the Royal Institution of Great Britain. His most famous invention was the electric motor, for which he discovered the principles of electromagnetic induction and constructed some of the first prototypes.