Michael Faraday / [Sir William Henry Bragg].

  • William Henry Bragg
Date:
[1931]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Michael Faraday / [Sir William Henry Bragg]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    19/24 (page 497)
    FARADAY’S “GREAT” ELECTROMAGNET neration which, as they were well aware, his intimate acquaintance with the state of the Institution would have then withheld him from accepting. But the effects of these disasters have now passed away, and the prosperity of the Institution is as permanently secured as is compatible with the condition of a society de¬ pending on public estimation. The Managers therefore now feel themselves fully justified in awarding to Dr. Faraday the only remunera¬ tion which it is in their power to bestow. Thus Faraday grew not only to be a great figure in scientific circles but also to be a valued public servant. He may even be said to have been a figure in society life of the day. He was the first secretary of the Athenaeum Club. But bis relations to society were one-sided. His discourses at the Royal Institution drew bearers of every class: the Prince Consort himself was a frequent atten¬ dant. He certainly admired Faraday himself, and we may well believe that he considered Faraday’s work and influ¬ ence to be of high value to the nation. But though society came to Faraday, Faraday did not go into society. This was not because he was unsociable. On the contrary, he was full of fun. I wonder what the staid managers of the Royal Institution thought of the parties when velocipedes were ridden round the corridors of the theater. His abstention from all society engagements except the meetings with a few intimate friends was due simply to the decision that he must concentrate on his principal work. It would be absurd to think of these renunciations of money and social pleasures as marks of a foolish quixot¬ ism or an unhappy nature. From all such perversions Faraday was poles apart. He knew perfectly well what he was about. He was thoroughly happy in his work, which filled his mind with great visions. And ho was just as happy in his private life, of which it is necessary that I should say something. If he had not been so content he could not have given his hearers so much de¬ light and encouragement. Punch may have rallied him for his lack of a certain ambition: Oh, Mr. Faraclay, simple Mr. Faraday! Did you of enlightenment consider this an age? THE HISTORIC RING OF SOFT IRON WOUND WITH SEPARATE COILS OF COPPER WIRE CONNECTED TO BATTERY AND GALVANOMETER, RESPECTIVELY, USED BY FARADAY IN HIS FIRST SUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENT IN ELECTRO-MAGNETIC INDUCTION.