Despite having little more scientific training than he could read for himself in the bookshop where he worked, Michael Faraday was taken on as an assistant by Sir Humphrey Davy in 1813. He justified the trust placed in him by making a series of historic discoveries, including electromagnetism and electrolysis, until unexpectedly interrupted by ill health in 1839.

After six years’ enforced idleness owing to ill health, Faraday continued his studies of electromagnetism, describing atomic forces in terms that would subsequently be taken further by Albert Einstein. Faraday also established the annual Christmas lectures of the Royal Institution which continue to this day, making science accessible to the general public.

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