Public-domain ebook
Michael Faraday, His Life and Work
Language: en1,715 downloads on Project Gutenberg
Subjects
In: Biographies·Science - Physics
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #65735.
About this book
The book is a scholarly biography that seeks to fill a gap left by earlier nineteenth‑century accounts of Michael Faraday. It opens with a survey of the three post‑mortem biographies that appeared shortly after Faraday’s death, Bence Jones’s two‑volume “Life and Letters,” Tyndall’s “Faraday as a Discoverer,” and Gladstone’s “Michael Faraday”, all of which are now out of print. The author then explains why another narrative is needed, emphasizing Faraday’s lasting influence on electrical science and the dwindling number of living witnesses. After acknowledging the Royal Institution’s permission to publish previously unseen notebook extracts, the work proceeds to a detailed, chapter‑by‑chapter outline that will trace Faraday’s early life, his tenure at the Royal Institution, his three phases of research, and his views on science, education, and religion, supported by illustrations drawn from contemporary sources.
Written in a measured, nineteenth‑century academic voice, the text blends factual exposition with occasional personal reflections, reflecting the author’s reliance on primary documents, letters, and unpublished materials. Its style is formal yet accessible, offering both narrative biography and technical description of Faraday’s experiments. Readers with an interest in the history of science, Victorian intellectual culture, or the personal development of a pioneering physicist will find the work rewarding, especially those who appreciate careful archival research and contextual analysis over sensationalized storytelling.
Who appears in Michael Faraday, His Life and Work
- Michael FaradayMiddle‑aged British gentleman, dark hair, moustache, wearing frock coat, waistcoat, cravat
- Dr. Bence JonesElderly Victorian physician, spectacles, full beard, high‑collared coat, pocket watch
- Professor TyndallMiddle‑aged Irish scientist, trimmed beard, waistcoat, cravat, thoughtful expression
The opening · free to read
Those who were intimately acquainted with him are a fast dwindling band. In the recollection of such as have survived him, his image lives and moves, surrounded with gracious memories, a vivid personality instinct with rare and unselfish kindliness. But the survivors are few, and their ranks grow thinner with each succeeding year. And so it comes about that the task of writing of his life and work has been entrusted to one who never ceases to regret that he never met Faraday.
Thanks to the permission of the managers of the Royal Institution, a number of short extracts from Faraday’s notebooks, hitherto unpublished, are now printed for the first time. Much more remains which it is to be hoped, for the benefit of science, may be published ere long. The author desires further to acknowledge the kindness of Messrs. Longmans & Co. in allowing the reproduction of the illustrations on pages 3 and 258, which are taken from Bence Jones’s “Life and Letters of Faraday,” published in 1868. Mr. Elkin Mathews has kindly permitted the insertion of the sonnet by Mr. Cosmo Monkhouse which follows the title-page. The author is also indebted to Dr. J. Hall Gladstone, F.R.S., for many valuable notes and suggestions, and to Miss M. K. Reynolds for photographs used in preparing Fig. 14. Most of all he is indebted to Miss Jane Barnard for access to Faraday’s private papers, and for permission to print certain extracts from them.
S. P. T.
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