ALPHABETICAL BRAIN™ VOCABULARY #11 OF THE 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL SCIENTISTS #11 MICHAEL FARADAY Life Dates: 1791 - 1867 A.D. CLASSICAL FIELD THEORY Faraday was the first scientist to conceptualize the Electrical Field Theory and had a prominent place in the history of both physics and chemistry. He discovered the Faraday Effect, where a beam of light rotates when it passes through a magnetic field. Faraday was elected to the Royal Society in 1824 for many achievements including the liquification of carbon dioxide and chlorine, since it proved for the 1st time that a gas can have more than one state. That major achievement was followed by the isolating of benzene from whale oil, which 40 years later became the key to the development of organic chemistry. In 1831, he discovered the principle of the transformer when he made an induction coil by wrapping two strands of wire around an iron core and connecting the wires to a battery. SOURCES = The Scientific 100 by John Simmons (pages 59-63); Britannica Encyclopedia; and Wikipedia. instantly go to: NUMERICAL LIST OF 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL SCIENTISTS IN HISTORY or return to: ALPHABETICAL BRAIN™ VOCABULARY INDEX