Fire From Heaven

Michael Faraday (1791-1867) rose from a very humble background to become one of the greatest experimental scientists of all time. His father was a blacksmith and Faraday left school at the age of 12 with only the most basic education. His family came from ‘the wrong side of the tracks’ in a world where science (or Natural Philosophy as it was then called) was the preserve of the wealthy and privileged. There was little hope for a working class lad from the streets of London and Faraday had another great disadvantage socially: his family were dissenters, members of an obscure Christian sect called the Sandemanians which, although orthodox in beliefs, immediately excluded him form Oxford or Cambridge or any kind of university education. The Anglican establishment still ruled the day in law and government and in the social hierarchy.

There are many who believe that Faraday’s ability to ‘think outside…