Michael Faraday (1791-1867)

Michael Faraday was born in London in a poor family. When he was a little boy, he did not go to school much and often played in the streets.

When he was fourteen, he started to work in a bookshop. It was a good place for him because he loved reading. He read many books and learned a lot from them.

At that time, some scientists gave talks in London. Faraday wanted to listen to them, but he did not have money for a ticket. His brother helped him and gave him some money.

One day Michael went to a talk by Humphry Davy, a famous English scientist. Faraday liked it very much and wanted to work in Davy’s laboratory. At first, there was no work for him, but a few months later Davy remembered him and gave him a job as his assistant.

Working with Davy, Faraday learned many things about science. He became very interested in electricity.

At that time, people did not know much about electricity. Faraday studied it for many months and years. Finally, he found that electricity could be made by a machine.

This was the start of all the machines that make electricity today. Without them, we would have no lights, no telephones, no radio, and no television. These things exist because of the work of Michael Faraday and other scientists.

Faraday also studied other sciences, not only electricity.