Experimenter and mathematician Faraday discovered properties of magnetic fields and among one of the many things Maxwell did he modeled these properties in mathematics.

Faraday worked hard for his chance to contribute to science. He was able to travel Europe with Humphrey Davy of the royal society as his chalet. Eventually he got his chance to do science and was a marvelous experimenter, although he didn’t have mastery of mathematics his experiments were well though out, meticulously performed and had profound effects.

He discovered the effects that would lead to the induction motor, electricity generation and understanding of the magnetic field. Most scientists of the day believed in force at a straight line, this matched up with Newtons ideas and formulas of gravity. Faraday’s experiments and ideas of a field were not readily accepted in his day. He did receive a letter from Maxwell later in his life with some equations that explained some of the effects Faraday was seeing. Sadly Faraday’s memory was failing him and he passed away before Maxwell had fully developed his theories.

Maxwell grew up with a loving father and mother. They lived at the Glenair House which was a sizable estate. His father encouraged his curiosity and they had a loving relationship throughout their lives, his father’s death would affect him deeply he wrote:

“I have kept the bars of distance - left the life that late I led - I remember years and labors as a tale that I have read, Yet my heart is hot within me for I feel the gentle power of the spirits that still love me waiting for this sacred hour. Yes - I know the forms that meet me, but are phantoms of the brain. For they walk in mortal bodies, and they have not ceased from pain. Oh! those signs of human weakness, left behind for ever now, Dearer far to me then glories round a fancied seraphs brow. Oh! the old familiar voices! Oh! Th patient waiting eye! Let me live with them in dreamland, while the world in slumber lies”

Through out his life whatever he applied himself to he was able to make amazing contributions, the list includes:

Understanding of light, making the first color photograph, stress distribution in structures using polarized light and gelatin, kinetic theory and thermodynamics, control theory and of course electromagnetism.

When he presented his ideas on electromagnetism hardly any one understood what he was talking about. The math was hard and it wasn’t distilled down to the tidy 4 equations we have today. The work of Oliver Heaviside created those and then the amazing scientist Hertz from Germany also helped the understanding increase.

I am amazed what they accomplished and discovered. What lives they lived.