A Life of Discovery: Michael Faraday, Giant of the Scientific Revolution

From Publishers Weekly
When an art historian writes a biography of the leading scientific figure of 19th-century England, the focus is likely to be broader than science. Hamilton (Turner: A Life), an art curator at the University of Birmingham in England, does use a wide-angle lens in this vivid look at the man who helped establish the laws of electromagnetism. He argues persuasively that the cultural gap between art and science—so clear today—had not yet formed during Faraday's lifetime (1791–1867), and that Faraday played a significant role in bringing intellectuals of all persuasions together. Hamilton mines numerous other biographies, the voluminous research notes left by Faraday, as well as ample correspondence by and to the scientist to dramatize Faraday's amazing rise from a poorly educated bookbinder's apprentice to a world-renowned scientist and science educator (he was a hugely popular lecturer). Hamilton explores the role of Faraday's religious faith (he belonged to the small, rigid Sandemanian sect of Christianity) and his friendships with artists of the time. What one won't gain here is a deep understanding of Faraday's scientific discoveries. But scientifically knowledgeable readers will gain an appreciation of what broader intellectual life was like during this critical period. 8 pages of photos, one map not seen by PW. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* When his experiments went explosively awry, Michael Faraday repeatedly found his eyes filled with glass and his own blood. But a perceptive biographer allows readers to see much more than shattered laboratory equipment through eyes eventually famous for penetrating the mysteries of electricity. Indeed, Hamilton invites readers to see those contours of Faraday's life often neglected by biographers narrowly focused on his electrical research. We see, for instance, how, when shielded from public scrutiny, the mature genius but still straitlaced man allowed himself remarkable intimacy in correspondence with a free-spirited female mathematician. Even in turning to Faraday's acclaimed science, Hamilton highlights the nonscientific, exploring the piquant personalities of the mentors and collaborators who helped Faraday on his way and tracing the remarkably artistic metaphors Faraday employed in explaining his breakthroughs. And alongside a lucid scientific account of how Faraday's daring mind united wires and magnets in the world's first generator, Hamilton offers an acute psychological analysis of the peculiar fissures dividing that mind. Readers thus join Hamilton in pondering the curious schizophrenia that allowed Faraday to crusade for educational reform with poise but still left him insecure and self-abasing when addressing his own Protestant community on religious issues. A complete portrait, restoring full humanity to a scientific icon. Bryce Christensen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
International praise for A Life of Discovery

“His life spanned some of the age’s greatest achievements: his work was responsible for many of them. . . . Well-researched . . . Exhaustive.”
–BENJAMIN WOOLLEY, The Guardian

“An outstanding biographer.”
–AMANDA FOREMAN, author of Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire

From the Inside Flap
In a world of darkness perched on the edge of discovery, Michael Faraday lit up the world of science, contributed to the Industrial Revolution, and changed the lives of everyone on Earth. Now a superb new biography illuminates the life of this amazing, reclusive, deeply contradictory man.

Born in 1791, Faraday was the son of a blacksmith with a thin education, yet he was gifted with a rare intelligence and intuition. He was a devout member of a small Christian sect that believed in the Bible’s literal word, yet he was open to all that humankind could invent from earthly knowledge. He was ambitious and savvy about spreading news of his work, yet he patented nothing and received no personal gain. In short, Faraday personified all the paradoxes of the early nineteenth century, a landscape in which class, faith, and desire clashed.

As apprentice to the esteemed Humphrey Davy of the Royal Institution, he helped discover the miner’s safety lamp, which revolutionized the search for and accumulation of coal, then went on to make a landmark study of induction, the connection between electricity and magnetism, and the idea of the electromagnetic field. From electric motors to precision-made eyeglass lenses to steel razors to liquid chlorine, his inventions–often designed with self-created instruments–have become staples of civilized society, the “roots of modern life.”

While rising in society, Faraday steered clear of politics and the seamy machinations of the material world, staying obedient to a higher authority. Though disdainful of “useless passion” and devoted to his wife, he found a confidante in the bright, liberated, and flirtatious daughter of Lord Byron. Trying to reconcile his severe religion and his demanding work, he eventually suffered a mental collapse.

An acclaimed biographer of artists, James Hamilton now captures the entire fascinating story of this individual and his era. A Life of Discovery is the definitive account of a remarkable man who merged intuition and logic, prayer and deduction.

About the Author
JAMES HAMILTON is University Curator at the University of Birmingham, U.K., and Honorary Research Fellow at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham. He was Alistair Horne Fellow at St. Anthony’s College, Oxford, 1998—1999, and is the author of Turner: A Life. He lives near Oxford, England.


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British physicist and chemist Michael Faraday (1791-1867) earned a place in the pantheon of scientists with his discoveries, public lectures, and promotion of scientific training for all. In this new biography, Hamilton (university curator, Univ. of Birmingham, U.K.) highlights Faraday's extraordinary development from his humble religious beginnings to the esteemed scientist he became. While greatly influenced by the Sandemanians-the small Christian sect to which he belonged-Faraday's interests were broad: he was fascinated by a variety of arts and sciences, including drawing and early photography. Employing fictional techniques to compelling effect, Hamilton has crafted an intriguing portrait of Faraday's relationships and interactions with his friends and colleagues that stands apart from previous biographies, which focus on his scientific endeavors. Well received in the United Kingdom, this work will enhance science history and biography collections. Recommended for public and academic libraries.-Sara Rutter, Univ. of Hawaii at Manoa Lib. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.


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