Michael Faraday

Start listing the things that run on electric motors – automobiles, fans, clocks, airplanes, pumps, vacuum cleaners, and so much more – and you begin to get a hint of what Faraday’s work brought forth. Add to the list generators, transformers, electrolysis devices, electromagnets, and many other products of his lab, and Faraday’s importance to the history of science and technology starts to come into focus. It has been said that the wealth generated by the inventions based on Faraday’s discoveries exceed the value of the British stock exchange. This is probably an understatement. Yet Faraday remained a modest, unpretentious soul who never sought financial profit from his work. He accepted a cottage from the government in his senior years, but rebuffed honors. When the queen wanted to knight him, he declined, wishing to remain plain old Mr. Faraday to the end. The glory of Jesus Christ was the only reward he sought.