Reading the book of nature

Despite having little formal education, Michael Faraday (1791-1867) became one of the greatest scientists who ever lived. He made brilliant studies in electricity and magnetism and laid the foundation for the age of electricity. But Faraday was also a devoted member of a fundamentalist Christian sect, which might seem at odds with the work of such a pioneering scientist. Faraday's story is elegantly told by James Hamilton in this new biography.

Faraday's even-tempered caution, and the strict discipline he observed, make it difficult for a biographer to excite the reader's interest in details of his non-scientific life. In this book, James Hamilton doesn't manage to overcome this problem. Where Hamilton, an art historian by profession, does succeed, however, is in painting a coherent picture of the part Faraday played in the exciting scientific activity in London during the first half of the 19th century and in showing how early cultural experiences helped form his scientific thinking.

Faraday, whose father was a blacksmith, was born into a poor family. He left school at about the age of 14 to be an apprentice bookbinder. A studious boy, he attended public lectures on science and had considerable exposure to literature, architecture and the other arts. He came to the attention of Sir Humphry Davy, director of the Royal Institution, who took him on as a laboratory aide in 1813.

The relationship between Davy and Faraday is well drawn by Hamilton. Davy took a paternal interest in his employee, who served a long apprenticeship, assisting with Davy's experiments, learning chemistry and physics, and becoming an expert experimentalist and public lecturer.

Eventually, Faraday emerged as a formidable scientist in his own right. This offended Davy's vanity; he had become used to a master/servant relationship with his pupil. Matters came to a head in 1821, when Faraday, aged 30, made his first breakthrough in his electrical researches. Oersted and Ampere had observed that passing an electric current through a wire produced a magnetic field. Faraday believed that a magnetic pole could be made to move in a circular pattern around a wire-carrying current, and, in testing his theory, he constructed the first electric motor.

Faraday was unfairly accused by Davy of failing to give due credit to others for his idea. Later, when Faraday was seeking election to The Royal Society, Davy opposed him.

In his early career, Faraday achieved much greater recognition from European than from British scientists. Then, as now, petty jealousy works against the prophet in his own land. Faraday succeeded Davy as director of The Royal Institution in 1825.

In addition to the electric motor, Faraday also discovered electromagnetic induction (how to generate an alternating current by moving a magnet in a coil of wire), made the first dynamo and laid the groundwork necessary to make electrical transformers. He devised the laws of electrolysis and laid the foundation for the electroplating industry. He introduced the idea of magnetic and electrical fields of force, a critical concept scarcely dealt with in Hamilton's book.

Unlike some biographers, James Hamilton doesn't shy away from discussing Faraday's religious life as a devout member of the Sandemanian Church, a fundamentalist Christian order that demanded total faith and commitment to a literal interpretation of the Bible.

Faraday saw no conflict between his religion and his science. In working as a scientist, he believed he was "reading the book of nature", just as he would read the Bible to discover God's laws for moral behaviour. Faraday's life and work was pervaded by a strong sense of the unity of God and nature.

Faraday was dismissed from his position as an elder of the Sandemanian Church in 1844 and was not reappointed until 1860. The Sandemanians demanded strict all-day attendance at their church on Sundays. One story that explains Faraday's fall from grace is that he was commanded by Queen Victoria to meet her one Sunday, which he did, thereby missing church. The Sandemanians were not impressed by his excuse. The craic must have been great on Sundays!

William Reville writes the Science Today column in The Irish Times and is author of Science Today: Understanding the Natural World (Irish Times Books, 1999)

Faraday: The Life. By James Hamilton.Harper Collins, 465pp. £25 sterling