Faraday, Michael

English chemist and physicist. In 1821 he began experimenting with electromagnetism, and discovered electromagnetic induction (the production of a continuous supply of electricity using magnetic fields). He made the first dynamo, the first electric motor, the first transformer, and developed the first electric generator. He also pointed out that the energy of a magnet is in the field around it and not in the magnet itself. In chemistry, Faraday isolated benzene from gas oils, demonstrated the use of platinum as a catalyst, and developed the laws of electrolysis in 1834.

Faraday created the technique and apparatus used for electrolysis (the production of chemical changes by passing electric current through an aqueous solution), and coined the terms anode, cathode, cation, anion, electrode, and electrolyte.

In 1846 he carried out work on polarized light. Using powerful electromagnetism Faraday was able to show that the electromagnetic field could change the plane of polarization in the light to rotate. The greater the strength of the magnetic field, the greater the angle of rotation in the plane of polarization. Faraday also worked on the different responses of substances to a magnetic field, describing objects that were attracted as paramagnetic, and objects that were repulsed as diamagnetic.